


Ghosts in Windows and Coffewine

by korrasamishipper



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Childhood Friends, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-08
Updated: 2018-06-11
Packaged: 2018-08-20 07:31:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 33,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8241367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/korrasamishipper/pseuds/korrasamishipper
Summary: -this story will not be finished, last chapter explains my decision to abandon this fic- A soldier always follows orders to protect the innocents. Fareeha takes her missions seriously, but how far can she go before there's nothing left to give.





	1. The Assignment

**Author's Note:**

> Decided to give pharmercy a shot. This story will get angsty but don't worry the gays will be all good. Updates might vary cause I'm a lazy shit.  
> Asfoora - bird (term of endearment)

The small compartment of the closet was stifling. The cellophane covers over the uniforms stuck to Fareeha’s sweat-covered face, and her hair lifted with static. She stood still, her breathing growing heavier with every second. Her ears strained for the quietest of sounds as blood rushed through her head and her finger flexed on the trigger.

The tiles outside the door clanked and her breath caught. She listened to the sounds of the footsteps drawing, not daring to move. It all happened quickly. The door of the closet was ripped open and the fluorescent lights flooded Fareeha’s eyes, blinding her. She lifted her weapon, straining to see where the best target was on the hulking man reaching for her at a surprisingly fast speed. Her finger squeezed and the bullet flew.

“Ooof!” Gabriel stepped back, stunned. The foam bullet stuck out of his forehead, the suction cup holding it perfectly in place.

“Yes,” Fareeha shouted. She threw her hands in the air, the oversized toy gun nearly catching Reyes across the jaw, as she cheered and ran around the man, growling in victory and flexing her lanky arms. “I got you! Did you see that? Right in the face.”

“You sure did, kid,” he said, his deep laughter filling the air as he watched the girl race through the room in a victory lap, jumping over couch arms and discarded plastic weapons littering the floor.

“Mom will be so excited when I tell her,” Fareeha continued. She tossed the gun onto the couch and picked up the barrette that she dropped earlier in their game, yanking it over her hair and standing at attention as Gabriel pulled the bullet away from his skin with an audible pop. “Sargent Major, may we go another round?”

Gabriel mimicked her pose, squaring his shoulders and parting his feet as he straightened up and addressed the child before him. “Get in position private,” he ordered. Fareeha saluted him and scurried away to the adjacent room looking for a place to gain advantage over her adversary as she waited for the attack. She was nearly in position, hidden under the dining table and above the pushed in chairs, her gun at the ready, when the front door hissed open.

“Fareeha,” her mother called from the entrance hall. Fareeha couldn’t see her yet and itched to go greet her, Ana’s commanding voice doing little to convince her to stay still. But that was not how agents of Overwatch operated. No, her mother would not abandon her position for a trivial matter. Nothing was more important than the mission. Fareeha let the mantra seep into her thoughts and resisted the urge to move. “Farah,” Ana called again.

It was then that Fareeha heard the heavy steps of the soldier make their way to the front door. That was Gabriel’s mistake; he let his guard down and lost focus of the goal. It would only be a matter of seconds that he would pass the doorway to greet her mother. Farah would be ready when he did. She steadied her breath and readied herself, waiting to pull the trigger.

“Ana,” Reyes greeted happily, “you’re back. How’d the mission go? Oh, and who’s tha-”

The thwack of the suction cup resonated and Fareeha smiled smugly as the bullet stuck onto his temple.

“Ah,” he sighed, “you got me again mija.”

Fareeha wiggled out of her hiding spot and jogged over to the hallway. “Yes, that makes four to your one.” She quickly rounded the corner and came to a grinding halt. Her mother stood hunched over as she took her boots off, but that wasn’t what stopped Fareeha in her tracks. A girl stood behind Ana, lanky and timid, Ana’s uniform jacket hanging off her shoulders, enveloping her in fabric.

“Hello,” the girl said softly. Her accent was heavy even in that single word. It reminded her a little of Reinhardt’s.

“Hi,” Fareeha replied, eyeing her up and down. She was older than Farah and her hair and eyes were light like Reinhardt’s, a sharp contrast to Fareeha’s own. While the sight of the stranger was distracting, with the too-big clothes hanging off bony shoulders and the unfamiliarity of the whole situation, Farah forced herself to refocus on her mother.

Ana hanged her barrette and bag on a hook and gave Gabriel a quick hug as they spoke softly in greeting. Fareeha waited patiently and at attention as quiet words were exchanged between the two colleagues, their eyes straying to the teenager waiting behind them. Fareeha’s curiosity pulled at her, but she was an Overwatch-agent-in-training and it would be unprofessional of her to interrupt, so she waited and watched her mother.

“Farah, this is Angela,” Ana said. “She’ll be staying with us for a while.”

Fareeha waited for more, but it never came. Need-to-know basis Farah figured. Gabriel moved towards the girl and gave her a friendly pat on the shoulder, a gentle touch that Farah only seen him use with her, and her mom and Jack. “Pleasure to meet you, Angela. My name’s Gabriel Reyes. I work with Ana.”

“Hello Mr. Reyes,” Angela said.

“He’s a Sargent Major,” Fareeha interjected.

“Oh, sorry Sargent Reyes. I didn’t know.”

“It’s okay, kid. No harm done, don’t worry about it. Well. I’ll let you three settle then. See you next time Farah,” he said smiling a toothy grin, bending down to her level for their customary good-bye high-five.

Fareeha saluted him as he stood back up, her barrette slipping down her forehead a tad from the movement. The soldier saluted back at her loosely and made his way out of the apartment, disappearing into the doorway.

“Farah, take Angela to your room. She’ll stay on the pullout. And help her with her bag, please.”

Fareeha fixed her cap and quickly moved to grab the small faded luggage case next to the girl. The guest herself picked up the stuffed backpack next to it and pulled it over her shoulders. Farah marched down the hall, turning into her room. She pulled the luggage bag near the couch and turned towards the girl following her.

“This is my room,” Farah said as she looked around distractedly. Angela stepped closer to the couch, lowering her bag onto the cushions.

“I like your wallpaper,” Angela said, eyeing the pale green walls littered with toy soldier silhouettes.

“Thanks, Gabe and Uncle Jack helped my mom put it up.” Farah dropped to the couch and swung her legs back and forth.

“You call your dad by his first name?” Angela asked.

“Gabe’s not my dad, it’d just be weird to call him uncle like Uncle Jack. So how come you’re staying with us?” she asked before Angela could say anything else.

“Captain Amari thought I shouldn’t live where I did before.”

“Where did you live?”

“In a children’s home,” Angela answered, rubbing her arm uncomfortably.

“You lived with other kids? That sounds fun,” Fareeha said, leaning forward excitedly.

“It wasn’t much fun.”

“Why not? How old are you anyway?” Farah stood up and began to load up one of the discarded toy clips littering the floor, picking foam bullets up from underneath the couch, hidden in the tangled bedspread, stuck to the curtains.

“Thirteen.”

“I’m seven. I’m going to be eight in two and a half months though, and mom said she’ll start training me in martial arts. I want to be an Overwatch agent when I grow up. They are heroes. Mom said that the most important thing is protecting those you love, and that’s why they go on all these missions. There’s nothing more important for an agent than their mission, cause it saves lives,” Fareeha recited.

“I’m going to be a doctor.” Angela moved slowly to the desk, looking at the several framed pictures on the walls as she walked. Fareeha was in most, posing with her mom or other official looking individuals in Overwatch uniforms. She pulled the computer chair out and took a seat in it, facing the young girl in front of her.

“A doctor fixed my mom’s leg last year. That’s why she has to wear a cast sometimes when she works. Her leg was hurt real bad.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Angela said softly.

“It’s okay, she said she’ll be able to teach me by the time my birthday comes around. What about your mom? Why don’t you live with her?” Fareeha knew she said something wrong when Angela’s eyes widened and her chin wobbled.

“Oh, uh, she…she’s not…she died.”

The crestfallen look on the girl’s face made Farah frown as she looked into the shimmering blue eyes. “How?” she asked.

“In the Omnic war.”

“…but why didn’t Overwatch save them? I know that mom and Gabriel and Uncle Jack were there. She said they saved a lot of people. I promise, they did. She has a medal and everything,” Fareeha insisted.

“They didn’t save my parents. Overwatch didn’t even exist when it happened,” Angela said, a lone tear falling from her lashes as she swiped at it roughly.

“That sucks,” Fareeha said, her voice low for the first time all day, “when I’m an agent, no one is going to die. I’m going to save everyone.”

“That’s why I want to be a doctor.”

“Then it’s settled!” Fareeha jumped off the couch and posed with her hands on her hips. “You and me are gonna be the greatest team ever. I’m gonna shoot all the bad guys and you’ll give everyone shots if they’re sick. Then no one’s moms will get hurt ever.”

Angela looked at her for a moment, and nodded. “Yes we will.”

* * *

 

Fareeha sneaked into the hallway, her puppy slippers silent on the hardwood, tiptoeing just as Uncle Jack and Gabe taught her. The light in the kitchen was on and that meant that her mom was in there, but Fareeha saw Ana asleep at the table enough times that she was certain she wouldn’t get caught.

She peeked around the corner, surprised when she saw her mother’s usual chair unoccupied, and with a shrug of her shoulders wondered in, making her way to the fridge and pulling out a carton of juice. She took the lid off and tipped the carton to her lips when a throat cleared behind her. She froze, the juice just centimeters from her mouth, and shut her eyes tightly.

“What did I say about drinking juice after bedtime?” Ana asked from the entryway.

“But mom,” Farah whined.

“You brushed your teeth already, asfoora.” She walked over to Farah and poured water into a glass.

“Water is boring,” Farah grumbled as she chugged it down thirstily, her brows furrowed while she glared at her mom.

Ana let out a soft laugh and picked Fareeha up, carrying her to the living room and settling on the couch. Fareeha settled into her arms, nestling in the crook of her mother’s neck.

“So, how do you like Angela?” Ana asked softly.

“She’s cool. We’re going to be a team. She’s the doctor and I’m the protector.”

“You two are teaming up already? That’s wonderful, my little bird.”

“Yeah, we’re going to save everyone, and Angela said that no one is going to lose their mommy and daddy ever again.” Fareeha felt Ana tense beneath her, and lifted her head.

“You know about Angela’s mommy and daddy?” Ana asked, tucking a strand of Farah’s bed hair behind her ear.

“Yeah. She said it was before you saved everyone.” Farah waited as Ana gazed at her, her eyes searching.

“Farah, Angela will be staying with us for a little while,” Ana said finally, “can you do something for me?”

“Yes, mama.”

“Can you be her friend?”

“I’m already her friend, mama.”

“That’s good, my little girl. Can you do just one more thing then?”

Fareeha waited patiently for Ana to continue.

“I’m going to leave for a few days, for a mission. Just protect her while I’m away? That girl went through a lot of bad things. She just needs someone to protect her.”

“Okay. Is that my mission?”

Ana sighed heavily. “Yes, asfoora, that’s your mission.”

Later, after her mother took the empty glass from her, Fareeha walked back to her room, leaving Ana to her papers and plans and assignments. The bedroom was dark, shadows dancing on the walls and the moon reflecting off of Fareeha’s collection of old army badges and medals hanging in frames on the wall. She walked inside, letting the dim, pale light guide her when she noticed Angela on the pullout, hunched in on herself and shivering as her blanket lay bunched at her feet. She walked up to her, stepping over the tanks and jeeps lined up against a row of plastic omnics, and pulled the blanket up to Angela’s neck before gently tucking her own favorite plush teddy into Angela’s arms.

“Good night doctor,” Farah whispered into the night as she settled into her own bed.

* * *

 

Fareeha leaned her head against her palm, nearly slipping off of it and into her cereal face first. Her eyes had bags under them and she struggled to keep them open. Angela sat across from her, her own breakfast quickly disappearing, and read from a thick tome that rested next to her plate. She looked really small in their kitchen chairs and Farah wondered if that is what she herself looked like to her mom.

Her eyes slipped shut once again and she only opened them when she felt her mother gently tap her on the shoulder.

“Farah, school starts soon, finish your food.”

“I’m tired,” Fareeha complained.

“Well you shouldn’t have been sneaking around the kitchen all night. Look at Angela. She’s already prepared for her first day.” Fareeha looked at the girl, scrunching her eyes as she leaned in to read from her book, oblivious that they were talking about her.

“Yeah but she’s gonna be a doctor and they go to school forever, but a soldier goes to training, I don’t need school. Why can’t I just go with you or Gabriel?”

“Gabriel is on assignment. And I’m leaving after I drop you two off in class.”

Fareeha watched as Ana walked around the kitchen and packed two lunches, pouting when she saw her mom give Angela an extra juice pouch. She ate a couple more spoons of her soggy breakfast and jumped down from her seat when her mom told them to get their shoes on. Both girls moved towards the entrance hall and began to get ready. Farah stomped into her brand new light-up sneakers, smirking when the red and blue illuminated the soles, but her smile fell as she watched Angela tie the filthy shoelaces of her ratty shoes, and she figured that it was okay that Angela got the extra juice.

The walk to the classroom was short, but Fareeha managed to fill the silence with excited chatter, talking about Jack’s last visit, and the new strategy book that Gabriel bought her the last time he took her out to get ice cream. She explained to Angela that he wouldn’t be able to take her this week because of work, but she promised her that the next time they would go, she’d ask Gabe to take Angela with them.

Fareeha hugged Ana and wished her luck before walking into her classroom and sat before her tutor, taking out her homework from her camouflaged backpack. She chatted the teacher up, trying to put off the actual schooling for a long as possible while also keeping an ear out for Angela saying bye to her mom just outside the door. It was hard to hear their hushed voices and it was nearly five minutes before Angela walked in. By the time Angela settled at the seat next to Fareeha, Farah was finished with the worksheet her tutor gave her to get warmed up and began taking out her reading.

She kept focused on the passage she had to read, sounding out every letter under her breath, while the tutor talked a little with Angela, asking her about herself and giving her an introduction, and so Farah hadn’t noticed the red that surrounded Angela’s eyes until she heard her sniffle and glanced her way.

Her mother’s words about protecting Angela resounded in her head and Fareeha felt like she was already failing. Why was Angela crying? She waited until the tutor finished talking to Angela and went to get some work for her, and then she fully turned to the crying girl.

“Why are you crying?” she whispered.

“I’m not,” Angela replied, wiping her tears away quickly.

“Yes you are, look.” Fareeha reached up and ran her finger through a stray wet trail. She held it up for Angela to see, but the girl frowned and pointedly avoided looking at Farah. “Sorry,” Fareeha mumbled and turned back to her work. She didn’t know what to do so she figured she’ll talk to Angela after their tutoring session, and hopefully she’d be feeling better by then.

The tutor returned shortly, hauling a few textbooks, and began to test what Angela knew. It was an awful lot, Fareeha figured, because Angela had no problem with any of the math or science that the tutor gave her. By the time Fareeha finished her regular morning workload all by herself, Angela completed two math tests and one science one. It felt strange to do her work without any help but Fareeha would not ask for help so that Angela could get all the attention at least on her first day. After all Angela was her responsibility now and Fareeha would not fail her mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you enjoyed leave a comment! If you didn't tell me why, always room to improve :D


	2. The Invasion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angela leads an attack and Fareeha literally runs into trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll try to keep a decent pace with updates, but I am also bad at that so we'll see how it goes.

“Aarggg!” Fareeha scratched her head violently and stomped towards Jack’s bedroom. The shirtless soldier was doing pushups at the foot of his bed and Farah flopped onto his back. “Uncle Jack, my head is itchy,” she complained. Jack lowered himself one last time and sat up as Fareeha clung to him.

“So scratch it,” he joked.

“It’s not funny mister. It’s itching really badly.” She scratched her head again in frustration.

“Okay, kiddo, let’s see what you got there.” He helped her slide down from his back and she sat on his crossed legs as he set to check her head. “Oh crap.”

“What?”

“You’ve got lice,” Jack said, his face scrunching up.

“What’s lice.”

“Uh, Little bugs tha-”

“Bugs?!” Fareeha screeched.

By the time Jack was on his feet Fareeha managed to sprint to the bathroom, crying massive tears and holding her hands by her head, not wanting to touch her hair but desperately needing to get the bugs off of herself. She turned on the showerhead, jumping into the shower fully clothed and finally started scratching away at her scalp.

Jack ran into the bathroom, shutting the freezing water off and pulling her out from the tub, wrapping a towel around the sobbing and now shivering child. “Fareeha calm down, it’s not that bad. We’ll go to the store and get something for it, don’t worry.”

“But by the time we get it they’ll eat my head off,” she shrieked.

“They won’t, I promise.”

Fareeha tried to calm herself down, she really did, but her sobs would not subside no matter how hard she tried, and her vision kept blurring with newly formed tears. “Are they gonna eat my hair? I don’t want to be bald,” she cried.

“You won’t be bald,” Jack assured her, although she didn’t feel much better when she noticed that while his voice was calm and steady he himself looked a little green. “Go get changed and we’ll go to get the medicine.”

“Medicine? I don’t want a shot,” she said through her tears.

“It’s not a shot I promise.”

“You swear?”

“I swear.”

“Let’s hurry,” she said, rushing to her overnight bag in Jack’s living room and nearly tripping over the towel around her. She sniffled and wiped away her tears as she changed out of her soaked clothes while Jack went to put on his shirt. She glanced at Angela who was curled up on the beanbag, a massive pair of headphones wrapped around her crown. Angela seemed completely oblivious to the chaos around her, not even reacting to Fareeha changing rapidly. Her eyes tracked over the text in her lap, moving back and forth faster than Fareeha saw anyone ever read. Her head swayed gently and a muffled sound of music radiated from the clunky headphones.

Jack came out of his room, dressed and ready to go, and Fareeha was almost done putting on her camouflage jacket when a movement made them both freeze and gape at Angela. The girl raised her hand to her hair and scratched, unaware of anything around her. She then turned the page and kept reading.

“My headphones,” squeaked Jack.

“Are you sure they don’t eat the heads off? My mom would be so mad at you,” said Fareeha.

* * *

 

A robe-clad Farah sat on the vanity, her hair covered in white foam and her feet swinging as she watched Jack meticulously work his way through Angela’s scalp, spraying the foam on line by line. Angela sat still, her shoulders hunched and knees tucked in.

“I’m sorry Mr. Morrison,” she said.

“It’s fine, happens to the best of us.”

“Yeah Angela, happens to the best of us. Don’t worry,” Farah chimed in.

Jack worked in silence after that, finishing working on Angela. The girls waited patiently and shortly after he clapped Angela’s shoulders to signal he was done.

“Okay, I’m gonna go wash your pillows. Angela, do you mind helping Farah wash her hair off?”

“Okay,” Angela said.

Fareeha jumped off the vanity, and bent over the tub. Angela helped Farah rinse the solution off and wrapped her hair up in a towel.

“I’m sorry I gave you lice,” Angela said, “I didn’t know I had them.”

“It’s okay, it wasn’t that bad.”

“I’m just glad that Mr. Morrison was able to fix it. He seems like he has no idea how to baby sit.”

“What do you mean? Uncle Jack is the best.”

“He fed us donuts for breakfast today.”

“Exactly,” Fareeha exclaimed.

“And we had cake for dinner.”

“Okay lady, I still don’t see the problem here.” Farah pouted.

Angela’s laughter bubbled up and Fareeha’s quickly followed. Their laughter echoed against the tiles and Fareeha was glad that the lice weren’t dangerous because her friendship with Angela was just beginning and head eating bugs would ruin that. As their laughter tapered off and when Angela asked for some privacy as she took a shower instead of just rinsing her hair Fareeha left to the living room and sat on the couch next to Jack.

“How’s your head feeling? Itchy?” he asked.

“I don’t think so,” Farah answered. She took the remote and began flipping through the cartoon channels. Her small fingers fumbled with the buttons, and she chewed on her lip as she thought of how she would broach the subject that she wanted to for the past two days that they stayed with Jack, but couldn’t because she didn’t want Angela to overhear. It was just too personal and even if Angela was her best friend now, so were Uncle Jack and Gabriel, and they were her best friends longer than Angela was. But it was just her and Uncle Jack now, and even if he was distracted with sterilizing his headphones she absolutely had to talk to him about it. “Uncle Jack, can I ask you something?”

“Of course,” he mumbled as he moved the alcohol swab over the top of the headphones methodically.

“Why are you and Gabe not talking?”

His movements halted and he lowered the headset. “You noticed that?”

“It’s not hard to miss. You don’t even say ‘hi’ to each other anymore.”

Jack sighed and rubbed at his chin. His eyes watched the screen of the television, but even Fareeha could see that he wasn’t really looking. He thought for a few moments and then sat up, turning to face her. He scratched at his jaw again and cleared his throat. “Sometimes people, um,” he took a deep breath, “sometimes friends don’t see eye to eye. Our job is stressful, and we have to deal with a lot of bad guys. We both know that, but we have different ways we want to do that.”

“But isn’t that better than just having one way? You’ll get more done,” Fareeha replied, her voice soft.

“Maybe. I don’t know kid. He wants to do thing secretly, and I want to – I want to do things the right way.”

Fareeha furrowed her brow as she thought about what Jack was saying. She played with the buttons of the remote as she pondered, and the more she thought the more confusing everything became.

“But Gabriel always does the right thing,” she said quietly.

“Not this time Fareeha.”

The stinging feeling behind her eyes burned and she tossed the remote away as she slid off the couch and sulked to the beanbag. There was no way that Gabriel was doing something wrong, she was sure of it. Gabriel was her mother’s best friend, Uncle Jack’s. He took her out for ice cream, and got her the best birthday presents. And he helped her start her medal collection, assembling a new set of frames every time one filled up, and he painted her room, and he visited her mom at the hospital when she got hurt. He was the one to take her to playgrounds, to bring her along to fun places. Gabriel was good.

“Oh, come on Farah,” Jack said as he followed her. “Don’t be upset. How about this, I’ll go get you some ice cream.”

“For your information Angela wants normal food for dinner, and so do I,” Fareeha grumbled as she crossed her arms and refused to look at Jack. “And Gabriel is good.”

“I know Gabe is good. I never said he wasn’t. It’s just the way he wants to do things isn’t the right way.”

“Well why the hell not?” she screamed.

“Watch your mouth young lady,” Jack said. Fareeha knew that face he was making meant that she was about to get in trouble, but he was being stupid and so was Gabriel and they were the ones who always told her to use her head before getting angry, so why should she listen to them if they didn’t do the same thing.

“Why? You’re not my dad. I can do whatever I want, and mom said if anyone was ever mean to me I can be mean right back.”

“I’m not being mean, just… I can’t explain, but just trust me that his way is not good.”

“You just don’t want to explain it.”

“No, that’s not it. Fareeha please.”

“You two always told me that there are many ways to do things correctly.”

“We were talking about your math homework,” Jack said incredulously.

“Oh. But doesn’t it still count?”

“Yes, it does.” He kneeled in front of her. “Okay, how about this. I’ll talk to him when he gets back, and I’ll make real food for dinner.”

Fareeha eyed him up with squinting eyes for a moment. “Fine. But can you make Konafah?”

“I thought you didn’t want sweets,” he said with a snort. “How about burgers?”

“Do you think Angela will like them?”

“Everyone likes my burgers, you little twerp.” He nuzzled her hair as she squirmed beneath his palm.

“Hey, watch the hair, buttface.”

“My face is beautiful and you know it.”

In that moment Angela came into the room, her hair up in a towel and a too big shirt hanging off her shoulders. Jack sent Fareeha off to watch tv with Angela while he made them dinner, and for the moment Fareeha let herself get lost in Angela’s company instead of thinking about Uncle Jack and Gabriel. And the best part was, Angela actually laughed at all of her jokes as they watched cartoons together.

* * *

 

It was Jacks idea to take Angela clothes shopping. Fareeha felt a little bad that she didn’t come up with the idea herself, but she happily tagged along. It was weird seeing Angela in clothes that actually fit her, and Farah decided that while Angela was always pretty, she looked much better this way. She was also much girlier like this. The skirts she chose were colorful and ruffled, and Fareeha didn’t think she saw a single pair of pants make it into the pile. Her shirts were much nicer than the t-shirts and tanks Fareeha would go for usually. Seeing Angela beaming at herself as she turned and posed at a mirror made Fareeha want to get something pretty too.

They ended up making it back to base, bags in hand, just as her mother’s ship approached the docking area. Fareeha knew that it would still take a while for her mom to actually get off the ship and finish up with her briefs, but Angela obviously didn’t because as soon as she realized that Ana was on that ship she was off.

Her new skirt billowed in the wind, and her hair grew wild as strands escaped her ponytail but she didn’t slow for even a moment. “Come on,” she yelled back as she ran, “Ana’s back!”

“Angela, they won’t let you in,” Jack shouted after her as he started to walk the way she ran. Fareeha wasn’t as patient, however. She ran after her, struggling in her pursuit, her short legs doing nothing to close the gap between the two of them. Sometimes Fareeha really hated being a kid.

By the time she caught up, Angela was standing at the hangar entrance, struggling to talk her way past the guard.

“Please, I really need to see her,” she said to the bored looking guard.

“Look, uh… kid. You can’t go in there.” He eyed her up and down with distaste, and that was all Fareeha needed to act. Running at full sprint she shot her leg out, her foot connecting with his shin. His howl rang out through the hangar as he clutched at his leg and hopped around. Fareeha’s hand grasped Angela’s and pulled before letting go as they both ran.

They made it a whole fifteen meters when a pair of palms clamped down on both their shoulders. Farah froze, Angela seizing up next to her, and turned her head slowly.

Gabriel’s displeased face greeted her, his thick brows furrowed and his breathing measured. “What is going on?” he said, enunciating every word.

“Hey there Gabe,” Fareeha said, adopting a massive smile, “how’s it going? We were just, uh, we were-” She tapered off when his face didn’t shift, and hung her head. “Sorry,” she mumbled.

“With me, now.” He kept their shoulders in a tight grip and led them further into the huge space. Their steps echoed and with each one Farah’s heart sped up. She kept throwing quick looks in Angela’s direction, feeling even worse when she saw how scared she looked. She reached over and grabbed her hand again, squeezing a little to reassure her.

It wasn’t long before the three of them, four Fareeha realized when she saw Jack step up next to Gabriel, were standing before her mother. Ana looked startled when she turned from the pair of soldiers she was talking with, her eyes quickly scanning the group and finally landing on Fareeha. Farah knew that her face looked guilty, but she couldn’t do anything about it as her mother stared at her, trying to figure out what was happening.

“What’s happening?” she asked.

Fareeha knew that the question was not aimed at her, but she was never very patient. “Well you see mama, we were just-”

“This one,” Gabriel interrupted as he glared at Fareeha, “assaulted the guard.”

“What?” Ana said, her voice incredulous, “Fareeha Amari, what has gotten into you.”

“Angela wanted to see you and the guard was being mean,” Farah argued. Ana looked over at Angela, still uncertain of what was happening. Farah looked at Angela too, and when she saw her face, she really regretted kicking that guard and getting them into trouble. Angela looked absolutely terrified.

“Please don’t send me back,” she whispered. Even though her clothes now fit, she looked small again, and Farah felt an uncomfortable pressure on her chest as she watched Angela’s eyes glaze over. She looked over at her mom, praying that Ana wasn’t mad, and saw that her mom looked at Angela with wide eyes.

“Angela-”

“It was my fault!” Fareeha interrupted. “I did it. I hit the guard. He wasn’t letting her in and he was rude, and I was just protecting her. You told me to protect her.”

Ana rubbed her temples with her hand, the other resting on her hip. “Okay, you stay,” she said at Farah, “I’ll have some words with you yet. Angela, follow me please. I need to talk to you.”

Farah watched helplessly as Angela followed Ana several feet away from where they stood, her hands trembling and her chin wobbling as she tried to not cry. Ana spoke, Farah could tell that her voice was soft from the echoes although the words were indistinguishable, Angela listened. It wasn’t even a minute before Angela could no longer hold her sobs in, and Ana stroked her shoulder, and then her head, as she kept telling her something. Angela’s shoulders shook and she flung her arms around Ana’s neck, pulling into her chest and crying. The soldiers all around turned to the source of the crying and for a moment the hangar was silent save for Angela’s weeping.

Fareeha averted her eyes as Ana held the crying girl in her arms, and looked at her shoes instead. She shrugged Gabriel’s hand off and walked over to a set of barrels off to the side, settling on top and crossing her legs. She toyed with her shoe lace and ignored Gabriel and Jack as they approached her.

“Go away,” she mumbled.

“Farah-”

“No, she told me that I was supposed to protect Angela and I did. I’ve been doing it. And now I get in trouble for it, while Angela gets a hug. It’s not fair.”

“She’s all alone Fareeha,” Gabriel said softly. “Her parents are gone, she’s in this new place, with people she doesn’t know, and for the past several years she had to live in an overcrowded, understaffed orphanage. Farah, she _needs_ a hug. Now look, you hit that guy. Jack here saw it, I saw it. You did. I mean, it was a great hit,” he said.

“Yeah, the guy is gonna have a hell of a bruise,” Jack agreed.

“Massive,” Gabriel added with a laugh. “I mean it was really good. That form-”

“The speed,” Jack continued.

“That was almost as good as that one time in Moscow-”

“Oh yeah, the sparing match-”

“With that captain guy.”

Fareeha watched as the guys bantered, their faces getting more animated as they went, their conversation with her completely forgotten. Her eyes flickered back and forth between the two as they spoke.

A clearing of a throat stopped the conversation. Ana glared at Fareeha and the others got a clue, hastily walking away to give them some privacy.

“Speak,” she commanded.

“I’m sorry,” Fareeha said. “I didn’t mean to.”

“Didn’t mean to what, to hit a guard? What was going through your mind,” Ana’s voice rose, “this is not playland, this is a military base, Fareeha. There are people with weapons, and heavy machinery in here. Classified information gets passed, secret missions, shipments. What were you thinking?! I’m not back five minutes and already you cause trouble!”

Fareeha sat and listened, unable to meet her mother’s eyes.

“You are not allowed in here, I have told you this a million times.”

“I’m not allowed anywhere,” Farah whined.

“Well it seems like that is a good thing, if the way you behave while I’m away is any indication! No more tv, no games, and absolutely no playing with your guns. I am tired of this.”

“But mom-”

“No, Fareeha! You put yourself in danger, and what’s worse, you dragged Angela in it. What if you two got hurt? I am responsible for her!”

“Then you protect her!” Fareeha jumped off of the barrels and stomped past her mother.

Before she could get far, Ana grabbed her arm and started leading her out of the hangar. Farah stubbornly refused to look at her, her feet stomping in time with her mother’s. “Come on Angela, let’s go home. Gabriel, tell mission control I’ll submit my report later tonight, I have to deal with this one first,” she said, gesturing at Fareeha as they strode past.

“Ana, come on, go easy on the kid.”

“Gabriel, just do what I asked. I know how to deal with my own child.”

Farah looked back as Ana dragged her away. Gabriel stood with his face sadder than she ever remembered seeing it, but Jack was with him, clapping him on the shoulder and pulling him away towards the ship.

* * *

 

Farah laid in her bed, facing the wall and ignoring the door to her room as it opened. If it was her mom then she had nothing to say, and if it was Angela then she definitely didn’t have anything she had to say to her. It was her fault that Fareeha was grounded.

“Farah?” Angela’s soft voice said.

“Go away.”

“Can we talk?”

“Get out of my room,” Fareeha mumbled.

“…Okay, I’m sorry I got you in trouble.” The door opened and Fareeha heard her footsteps shuffle towards it.

“Wait,” she turned over and sat up. Angela turned reluctantly and came over to the bed, climbing on and sitting at the foot, her legs crossed and mirroring Fareeha’s. “It’s okay. I don’t know why I kicked that guy,” she admitted.

“I shouldn’t have run off from you and Mr. Morrison.”

“Why did you?” Farah asked.

“I just wanted to see your mom.”

“You live with us now, you’ll see her all the time,” Fareeha said.

“No, I know that, it’s just that when I saw her ship there I _had_ to see her. I didn’t have anyone looking over me for a long time, and she did. I was with her for a week before she brought me here, and that week was the best I ever had. I didn’t have to share a room with three other kids, and no one took my stuff, and I had a quiet place to do my homework. The food wasn’t gross, the pillows were soft. Ana was so nice. I hadn’t had that for a very long time. With her I got to choose what I wanted to watch on tv, and she bought me a bunch of books, real actual paper books.”

“My mom is pretty awesome,” Fareeha added begrudgingly, “even if she is being mean right now. And one good thing did happen today.”

“Oh yeah? What is it?”

“Uncle Jack and Gabe said my kick was great.”

Angela laughed and mussed Fareeha’s hair. “It was pretty awesome. You know, I’m really glad to have a protector like you.”

“Yes, I am pretty good at it, aren’t I.”

“You are. How about I talk to your mom about the whole ‘getting grounded’ thing?”

“Oh, good luck with that. She is way more stubborn than me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are appreciated. Also the pacing will greatly speed up from now on, this isn't a story about kids, so don't worry it won't be 40 chapters of slow burn.


	3. The Departure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a birthday, Angela is too obvious, Torbjorn is pretty cool.

Angela sat at her desk, the lamp illuminating the text in front of her. _Grey’s Anatomy_ rested next to the screen, one of the books that Ana bought her all those years ago, its worn pages opened to the chapter on mammary organs. Her attention oscillated from the texts to the paper she was writing, her hands pausing their typing every time she had to take a moment to look back at the information.

Her back felt stiff and her bare feet were slightly chilly as her fuzzy slippers lay beneath the desk she was working on while her legs were crossed on her seat. There was a finger print on her glasses, taking her attention away from her work every few minutes, and the nose pads left painful indentations on her nose bridge. And probably the most annoying thing was the icy coffee that sat by the key board, taunting her with the need to get a fresh cup.

She loved biology, and anatomy, and her classes in general, but tonight was not her day. Her period started a few days early, her lower back was screaming from cramps, and she missed her self-imposed deadline to finish this particular article by an entire day. She lifted her glasses and rubbed her eyes, forgetting her makeup and probably smudging it all over her face.

The door to the room slid open. The aroma of coffee drifted into the room, and she sighed in relief. She fixed her glasses and twirled her seat around, resting her hands on her crossed legs and fidgeting with one of the rings around her ringers.

Fareeha neared her, carefully raising the cup she was carrying in an offer. “Got you some coffee.”

“I can see that. Thank you,” Angela said. “Are we talking again?”

“I’m still angry, but you’re turning sixteen tomorrow, ya know, so I figured I probably shouldn’t be an asshole.”

“You’re not an asshole, you’re my best friend… I’m sorry that I have to leave.” Angela really was. When she got the acceptance to the best medical program she could find she was ecstatic, Fareeha, however, had a much harder time accepting she would be leaving soon. But it was Angela’s dream, regardless of how painful it would be to leave behind everyone. She had grown used to moving around, going from base to base with Ana and Fareeha every few months when Ana’s station changed, but she was never separated from her new family for more than a few days.

Fareeha sighed, and after a moment of silence cleared her throat and leaned over Angela to look at what she was working on. Her eyes widened and she snorted as she looked at the diagram in the anatomy book. “Nice boobs,” she said. “You know you can use the internet for that right?”

“That’s very funny. For your information I’m writing a paper on breastfeeding and infant health,” Angela said as she turned back to her work.

“Why don’t you just go watch the new recruits train? Like half of them are women.”

“Fareeha!” Angela chastised.

“What? It’s true.”

“That’s inappropriate!”

“Your staring or what I said?”

“I don’t stare,” she squeaked out indignantly.

“Yeah right. Your staring at girls is more obvious than Jack staring at my mom.”

“I liked you better when you were eight,” Angela mumbled, trying to get her blushing face under control. Farah’s perception was no longer hindered by the short attention span of children and her patience grew with her.

Fareeha grinned, happy to get under Angela’s skin at every opportunity. She straightened, giving Angela some room to calm down, and plopped on the bed. Their new place had three rooms instead of the two back in the Swiss HQ, and while Angela missed their usual room, with Farah’s doodads and their green wallpaper and Angela’s pullout, she was also glad to have a room all to herself. It was much easier to get lost in her studies without Farah jumping all about, although there was much less of that now that she matured. Angela wondered what she would be like in a few years. At the rate Farah was going, she foresaw a lot more teasing in the coming years.

“So, what’s this one for?” Farah asked.

“I hope to maybe get this one into an actual journal. My other two were rejected because I don’t have a degree, but this one seems promising.”

“Well, I’ll leave you alone and let you work. Mom said dinner is in an hour, I’ll get you then?”

Angela nodded with a grateful smile, and Fareeha left the room quietly.

“Staring. I am not that obvious,” Angela muttered to herself as she turned back to her work.

* * *

 

Angela walked the empty living-quarters hallways, her bag overstuffed with medical books that she managed to find in the library twenty minutes from the base. The track up the road tired her out faster than she would have liked, and by the time she reached their apartment her shoulders were aching from the heavy tomes. She juggled the book she was hugging against herself enough to reach for the access card hanging around her neck and swiped it. The light turned green and she pushed open the door.

“Surprise!”

The books flew out of her hands as she jumped, her palm slapping to her chest in fright. The small group of people gathered around a set table blew kazoos and Fareeha popped confetti over their heads, getting it all over them and the table.

“Mein Gut,” Angela yelped.

Cheers and laughter filled the room and while Angela got her bearings Farah ran into her, hugging her waist. A massive smile split her face as she took in the room. ‘Happy 16th!’ stretched over a cloth banner hanging against the back wall, balloons floated from chair backs, birthday hats occupied everyone’s head, and in the middle of the table was a caduceus shaped  ice-cream cake.

She wrapped her arms around Farah and wobbled with her towards everyone else. Gabriel patted her on the shoulder with a proud smile, before she was lifted into the air by a happy Jack, his arm muscles squeezing the breath out of her. A few other soldiers all gave her hugs and congratulations, and even the legendary Reinhardt made an appearance despite his booked schedule and limited time. Despite everyone’s attention there was only one pair of eyes she was searching for. Ana stood near the back of the crowd, watching everyone with a serene smile. When their gazes finally met Angela couldn’t help the moisture that filled her eyes. She broke away from the group and stood in front of Ana, sniffling wetly and mirroring her smile. Ana was the first to reach out, but when she did Angela rushed into her embrace, hugging Ana back tightly.

Ana patted her back, and smoothed her hair as Angela clung to her. Over the past few years Angela got taller, nearly reaching Ana, but the woman still enveloped her in a cloud of safety. Angela didn’t know how she could express her gratitude to the woman who gave her a chance at life, so she clung to her, embarrassed by the tears slipping down her cheeks.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“Happy Birthday, Angela,” Ana said.

The hug lasted a bit, and when Angela finally pulled away Ana wiped the trails of tears and gave her arms a little squeeze. Soon music was playing and laughter rang out as conversations began and Angela mingled at the small group celebrating her. A deep sadness lingered in her chest, a constant undertone of all the happy moments of her life for the past decade of her life. For a moment she let the longing for her parents come out, looking at the scene all around her. They would have loved being here. And they would have been nothing but proud of her accomplishments, even more so than Ana already was.

She allowed herself that moment of longing before returning to the present as Farah and Gabriel approached her, chatting together excitedly and swiftly bringing her into the conversation. The man had his arm around Fareeha’s wiry shoulders, squeezing her into his side, his cone-hat sitting tilted over his shaved head. Fareeha’s eyes shone as she told her everything about planning the party, getting everything together and ordering the cake, proudly proclaiming that she was the one to paint the banner. She even fangirled a little over Reinhardt’s unplanned appearance, excitedly bragging about the poster he signed for her.

“Oh, and I got you something,” Fareeha said happily, running off to the corner of the room where Angela spotted a few colorful bags and a couple wrapped boxes. She was back in seconds, holding out a crudely wrapped package. The paper crinkled as Angela took it, and she quickly tore it off. Inside was folded white fabric and as she let it unravel she couldn’t help but gasp.

In her hands was a crisp, white coat, a patch on the left breast displaying her name proudly: ‘Dr. Zeigler’. She quickly put it on, fixing the collar and buttoning up a couple of buttons. Her fingers traced the nametag, the coarse letters scratching at her fingertips.

“So, future Dr. Zeigler, do you like it?” Farah asked.

“I love it, thank you.”

“Phew, I was worried that it was dumb.”

“No, it’s really really great,” she said happily. “I’m really going to miss you Farah.”

“Tonight is your birthday celebration, let’s not talk about that just yet. How about we go cut into the cake, and open the rest of your presents. I wanna know what the guys got you.”

* * *

 

Angela sat in her seat, leaning her face against the cool window of the carrier. An open book lay in her lap, long forgotten, her glasses hanging from her lip as she followed the passing clouds, evening colors painting the vapors orange and purple. The ship was descending and she realized that she hadn’t read more than a page the entire flight. Twinkling, pixilated lights of the nearing city began appearing in the tears between clouds. It wasn’t long before the ship touched down at the airport, rousing her from her unfocused thoughts.

Her luggage increased in mass soon after moving in with the Amari’s three years ago, but she was still not used to having so much stuff. Every time they had to pack to go to new bases Angela was always taken aback by the brimming bag she always ended up with. This time around she had even more, three full sized suitcases and a carryon, and the full extent of the situation finally hit her. She was thousands of miles away from her family, with limited ways to contact them, and not knowing the next time she would see them. She fought down tears as she waited for her luggage to show up on the rotary, the crowds of foreigners surrounding her leaving a greater loneliness and making it harder to keep herself together.

She wanted this opportunity so badly. Her appetite for knowledge was voracious, and her drive to be a healer never slowed since the loss of her parents. Her entire life up to this point centered around this dream, and it was finally that much closer to becoming a reality. But she never realized just how hard it would be, or that she had to leave the people who gave her this chance, who loved her and cared for her and most of all were proud of her.

She pulled the last heavy bag off the line, nearly tipping back as the luggage came free of the surrounding bags of other passengers and flopped off the rotating track. With less grace than she would have liked she pulled all three bags towards the exit, one in each hand and her body pushing the last. She ignored the looks she got, opting to focus on not tripping over the bags. Her focus distracted her enough that the exit gate came up suddenly and she was once again caught unawares. She knew that Ana’s colleague was supposed to pick her up, Thor something, but she didn’t know what he looked like because she was reading while Ana was telling her about it and while she did her best to listen she couldn’t help it as her thoughts drifted and the information slipped her by. Cursing under her breath she trotted off to the side, letting the current of arrivals pass her by, and took out her phone. As she looked for the information that Ana texted her, bless her for knowing Angela well enough to predict her distractedness, a booming, gruff voice echoed around the already loud plaza.

“Angela!”

She whipped her head up, looking for the source when something caught her attention. A short, stout man elbowed his way through a crowd of waiting relatives and taxi drivers. His eyes were focused on her and he waved with a grin. She awkwardly shuffled her bags in his direction and when they were face-to-face, well face-to-waist more like, she greeted him awkwardly. “Hi.”

“Hello, hello child. Well don’t just stand there, let’s go. Too many people here.” He grabbed the luggage she was pushing, and was nearly swallowed by the crowd by the time she started to follow him, jogging and maneuvering her bags to catch up.

* * *

 

Living with Torbjorn turned out to be great. While Angela grew used to the bustle of a busy base, this operative seemed to have more pull than most and his dwelling was a cozy house in a sleepy town just a couple of hours from her university instead of an apartment for officers in the barracks. It was big enough that Angela had her own room and a study, which didn’t say much since most of the house was unused with Torb being locked away in his workshop for hours, if not days. Not to say that she was all by her lonesome. When he wasn’t consumed by a project, Angela often came home to a warm meal and great company. The man had stories by the dozens and shared an enthusiasm for discovery.

For the first time Angela had someone that truly understood her. Ana was amazing and so were her colleagues, whom Angela grown to love as well, but they were soldiers and with the work load and line of interests there just wasn’t much overlap for her love of medicine to shine through. With Torb she found herself less quiet, more focused. Her attention didn’t wane at the dinner table, and when it did it was in companionable silence since that meant that Torb was just as engrossed in his own stuff.

At school things were a bit different, and much more difficult. At headquarters the people were so diverse, talent from all around the world recruited to keep the peace of the world. At school there was much less variety. The nationalities were vast and the cultures mixed, but at the core most students were Americans through and through. The prestige of the school did attract the best of the best from everywhere, but Angela found herself to feel out of place with her heavy accent and unfamiliarity with the customs.

And that was ignoring the fact that she was young. Very young. There were people in their late twenties, and thirties, and forties, and she was barely sixteen. Her young face stood out in every class, in every hallway. Her classmates were welcoming, accommodating, they were all new there and so Angela felt better on that front, but while she was mature for her age she was no adult. While the future generation of surgeons bonded over beers, Angela spent her free time in libraries and labs. The school work came easier to her than others, she felt in her element there at all times academically, and that got her praise from most, with the exception of a limited handful of vindictive colleagues. Sometimes though, she could almost feel that her youthfulness also lowered the bar for her, making space for undeserving praise.

The first year was confusing socially, enriching academically, and jarring emotionally. There were days where she missed Ana and Fareeha more than she could bear, writing emails pages long. Other times she could go weeks without contacting them, too focused or busy to remember much past the things that needed her immediate attention. On their end, Ana did her best to reply fast, her pride shining through even as her duties always created unpredictable windows of free time, and Fareeha wasn’t much better. At first Angela would get emails daily, Fareeha’s commendable excitement over everything being infectious and endearing, but with time they grew shorter. Ana assured her that Farah was just growing and the teenager streak started a bit earlier than expected. Angela truly hoped that it was just adolescent rebellion and not something that she did.

The program grew more intense as the weeks went by, and with her exceptional knowledge, knowledge that often surpassed the professors’, Angela found herself being advanced years ahead. It came with a price. Her summer was conscripted by the school, and her classes made more intense by the school’s want to bring her up to speed with practicing students. When school resumed for her first-year classmates, she was already starting the program’s third year curriculum, and so was thrust into yet another situation where she was an oddity. On the bright side, she figured, it helped her be more social. And all the time she was spending with her professors and around surgeons, it was starting to pay off, especially when they were beautiful lady doctors, with their beautiful faces and their busy lives and their ability to look hot in scrubs. Damn Fareeha for being right about her oogling.

Yes, her life in the states was great. It was exciting, it was fulfilling, it was everything she wanted her journey to be. And it was incredibly lonely.

When she woke up one morning, exhausted as she always was these days, and opened up her messages, one caught her attention. Nearly four years of video chats and random texts, and finally she would see her family in person again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry there was so much telling and so little showing, it was necessary because I am lazy. Next chapter should be much better, and also get into the actual relationship. But yeah, here it is, leave a comment! Also come say hi on tumblr, I've got the same username and everything. See ya next time!


	4. The Reassignment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Teen angst is angsty. And Fareeha makes a decision.

Fareeha sat in her seat, focused on the documentary playing on her computer, her headphones swaying with the movement of the car. She pointedly ignored her mother as Ana looked her way every few minutes while she drove. The narrator spoke about the strategies Alexander the Great applied in warfare, and the music that was playing from the car radio was throwing off the whole thing. She reached over and flipped the radio off.

“I was listening to that,” her mother said.

Farah didn’t answer, focusing on the screen instead. Ana sighed and continued the drive in silence. The atmosphere was tense, but Farah was not willing to fix it, she was the _child_ and her mother was the successful captain adored by millions, it should be her responsibility. The drive would take a while still, the traffic slowing their trip and stretching it to several hours instead of the couple it should have taken. Oh well, Farah had a lot she could keep occupied with. Better than sitting and listening to her mother brag about how amazing Angela was, and how smart Angela was, and how many amazing, wonderful, smart things Angela was creating. Well she wouldn’t have any of that. She’d had enough ‘why can’t you aim for something like Angela is’ and ‘look at this award Angela got, why can’t you go do something useful for once you wannabe military grunt’. Her mother wasn’t quite blunt like that, but the message was clear, Angela was everything Ana wanted in a daughter, and Fareeha was not.

She grew frustrated just thinking about it, and after realizing that she missed the past fifteen minutes of the film she rewound it with an angry huff. She wouldn’t let this ruin her vacation with Angela. As she took a few calming breaths, something that Reyes had showed her years ago that came more and more useful, she let herself relax. This would be good, she promised herself, a whole week with Angela. It would be just like it used to. Angela would probably spend her time reading, tucked away in some nook, while Farah would do her own stuff a few feet away. They’d relish the familiar silence and every once in a while Angela would tell her some cool new thing she’s learned, and Farah would gush about a new milestone she’d had reached in her training. It would be great.

“So are you excited to see Angela again? I noticed you two don’t talk as much anymore. You know, she’ll be getting a new award in a few days, I think I told you that already,” Ana said, breaking the silence. Fareeha felt herself tense again, all the calmness and excitement she mustered deflating.

“Can’t wait,” she drawled.

“Oh come on, Fareeha. Can’t we just enjoy this? Why do you have to ruin this before we even get there?”

Farah grew aware of the aching in her temples, a steady pressure that increased with every moment of the drive. She yanked her headphones out, and tossed her tablet in the back seat, not caring where it landed. She crossed her arms and chose to look at the slowly passing trees.

* * *

 

She only grew aware that she fell asleep when she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder nodding her awake. The sleep cleared and the small affectionate touch from her mother made her heart ache. She rubbed her eyes and looked out the window, realizing that they were parked in a driveway.

Her body ached and she got out to stretch, flexing her back and arms a couple times. She went to the trunk, helping Ana grab their bags and the two of them walked up the small path leading up to the entrance. Before they reached it, the front door yanked open and a blond woman ran out to greet them with a squeal. She jumped the few steps leading off the porch, her bare feet slapping the concrete path, and before Farah knew it, she was witnessing Angela slam into her mother, nearly taking Ana off her feet.

Farah couldn’t help the smile that escaped her as she watched her mom hugging her best friend. Ana’s laughter mingled with Angela’s and they swayed in their spot, clinging to each other, Ana’s duffle bag dropped and forgotten on the ground. It wasn’t long before Angela released Ana and turned to Fareeha. Farah grinned at her, dropping her bag and opening her arms in invitation. Angela’s no-longer-lanky frame crashed into her and Farah twirled her around, burying her face in Angela’s shoulder. They held each other, both unwilling to let go, marveling at how familiar this all felt, yet how different it was at the same time. Fareeha realized that she was no longer at level with Angela’s shoulders, looking down at her instead of up, and Angela seemed to have filled in her frame quite nicely, her bones no longer poking Farah as they hugged. She still smelled the same though and Farah happily inhaled at the crook of her neck.

“You grew,” Angela said, her voice wet with emotion and a smile evident through her tone.

“Yeah, you did too. Your shoulders are less pokey,” Farah said with a laugh.

“Oh hush skinny-bones.”

They separated and Angela quickly wiped the tears from her eyes, looking at the two visitors happily. “Well come on, let’s go in,” she said. Farah picked her bag up at the same time as Ana, and they followed Angela inside, Ana wrapping her arm around Angela’s shoulder and Angela burrowing into Farah’s mother happily, her arms wrapped around Ana’s waist.

As they all took their shoes off, Angela pulled them in, bringing them into the kitchen. The table was set for four and while the food was not yet on it, the room itself smelled amazing. Aroma of different dishes mingled in the air and the room was comfortably warm from the heat of the stove. The two of them followed Angela to the kitchen island, helping her set the food out and Fareeha smiled at Angela’s excitement. The student fluttered around the place talking excitedly.

“…and Torb is helping me with it, all we have to do is figure out a universal frequency, and as long as the person has the nanos, the healing agent should accelerate beyond anything we have so far. The thing that we’re having problems with is getting the specific cells to obey a general command. And there’s also the fact that it’s not exactly tested yet.”

Ana listened aptly, and while Fareeha knew that half of what Angela was saying would bore her mother to death in any other situation, the fact that it was Angela speaking made her mother light up with pride. Farah listened along quietly, letting the two of them chat, as she silently moved the steaming plates to the center of the table. Before long the table was set.

“Okay, you two settle in and I’ll go get Torb, he’s been locked away in his workshop all day,” Angela said as she made her way out the room, sparing them one last face-splitting smile and disappearing around the corner.

Farah took a seat to across from Ana and they sat in silence, listening to Angela running down the stairs.

“Her accent is much better now,” Ana commented.

Fareeha hummed, not disagreeing.

“Fareeha please.”

“What do you want me to say mom?” she replied, her tone sharper than she intended.

“I want you to say anything. This ‘silence’ thing is not gonna fly anymore. You are growing up; you should realize how childish this all is.”

Fareeha knew of course that she was acting like a kid, but she couldn’t help herself any more than Ana could every time she ignored Fareeha’s accomplishments. It wasn’t fair to either of them, but it was what it was.

Before things could spin out of control Angela returned, a short man following her closely behind. Fareeha recognized him from the few photos Angela sent her over the years, and from the couple of occasions where he passed the camera when they were talking. His impressive beard was nearly enough to distract from his prosthetic and the visor over his eye made Farah wonder is he had an eye under it at all.

“Torbjorn!” Ana stood to greet him, meeting him in the doorway and bending down to give him a hug. He gave her a heavy pat on the back, Fareeha snickering when Ana let out a breathy grunt at the force.

“Amari, how’s the sniper rifle working?” he asked.

“Shoots straight,” she joked. The two of them kept talking about projects and missions as they all took their seats, Fareeha blocking it out as best she could. Angela leaned into Farah’s space, resting her head on her palm, eyes sparkling and a smile on her lips.

“So, how have you been? You look so different. You’ve matured.”

Glad to have a distraction from the discussion the adults were having, Farah turned her attention to Angela as she set about loading Angela’s and her own plates with food. “Well, had to put the whole bodyguard thing on hold with my asset moving across the world,” she jested.

“I heard you got your black belt,” Angela said, the proud tone making Fareeha feel all the more guilty for not telling her in the first place.

 “How did you know?” she asked shamefully.

“Well since you don’t tell me anything, I ask around from time to time.” Angela’s tone was light, but Farah felt the pain in the words.

“I figured you were busy, and it’s not a big deal anyway.” Farah shrugged and dug into her food.

“So, now that we’re here, how about you tell me all about what you’ve been up to?”

Farah chewed slowly as she kept her gaze on her plate, shuffling the food around with her fork. “Nothing really. I mean there’s school, I’m doing pretty well there. And I’ve been traveling more. Like actual traveling and not following mom from base to base. It’s mostly with Gabe, he took me to Egypt a couple months ago. He’s busy a lot though. I’m happy that he’s with blackwatch now, cause since it started Jack and him don’t argue as much, but I sort of miss him a lot. He goes away for months at a time, and I’m not allowed to know where.”

“The traveling part sounds very nice,” Angela said softly, “but what about your personal life?” The shift of tone into playful and the accompanying eyebrow wiggle made it very hard for Farah to keep a straight face, or the blood from rushing into her cheeks.

“What personal life,” Fareeha said with a laugh, “I live on military bases.”

“Oh, don’t let that fool you Angela,” Ana chimed in, “this one’s a player.”

“Mom!”

“A player,” Angela prodded, “so little Amari’s been breaking hearts, Capitan?”

“Left and right. It’s the Amari charm,” Ana said.

Fareeha groaned, stuffing her mouth with food so that they could get a hint and hopefully leave her alone. Her dark complexion did little to hide her blush, and her ears burned as the others kept teasing her. She was grateful that the man at the table didn’t contribute to it, although his loud, rancorous laughter was nearly as bad.

“For your information, I don’t date,” Fareeha grumbled, “I just hang out with people sometimes, and when I have to move around every few weeks it’s hard to have stable friends anyway.”

“We’re just teasing, Farah,” Angela assured her in her gentle tone.

“I know. But anyway, since we’re on the topic, what about you?”

“Other than the doting patients?” she asked, making Fareeha snicker.

“Oh, well excuse me, young, hot doctor lady. I wasn’t aware that you were so popular,” Farah said, elbowing her in the side playfully, missing the tinge of crimson on Angela’s cheeks as she went back to her food.

“Uh, there hasn’t really been anyone. Most people I work with see me as a kid.”

Ana spoke up, “having relations with coworkers is not a good idea anyway. Always causes trouble.”

Fareeha felt her heart jolt. Her mom never talked about her dad, but Fareeha figured that they worked together at some point, with how against she was when it came to dating her colleagues. Fareeha still remembered just how dejected Jack was when her mom turned him down all those years ago. She let Ana question Angela about her life, listening to every word, looking for any clue. The sore subject always put barriers between her and her mother, but maybe if Farah didn’t prod, maybe if Ana accidently volunteered the information, then her suspicions could be confirmed.

It was in vain. Angela steered clear of the topic herself, moving on to the technology she’s been working on with Torb, and Fareeha resigned herself to finishing her food in silence, letting Angela gush about the progress they’ve been making, and regaling her first weeks at her new residency.

It wasn’t long before the plates were empty and their appetites sated. Ana and Torbjorn all but kicked the girls out, opting to clean the table themselves so they could talk some more about the ‘good ole times’, and that’s how Fareeha found herself in Angela’s room.

Fareeha looked around as Angela subtly kicked a pile of clothes under her bed, trying not to laugh at the awkward blonde. The desk was neat, but that was about all that was tidy in the room, everything else was a cluttered mess. The bedside table was weighed down by several uneven stacks of texts, which Fareeha still didn’t get the purpose of, but Angela liked her books physically there so whatever, the bed was unmade and the comforter hung off the footrest piling on the floor as several discarded clothes lay on top of it, the floor by the desk had a small stack of dishes, and a couple of mugs with rings of coffee painting their insides.

“Nice room,” Fareeha teased.

“Oh hush, you know how busy I get,” Angela whined.

Fareeha yawned, stretching her arms over her head, and plopped down on Angela’s bed, staring at the ceiling. She saw Angela shuffle from foot to foot, her anxiety showing as she struggled to get words out. “What do you want to ask?” Fareeha prodded.

“That obvious, huh? You and Ana seemed tense around each other. Everything okay with you two?”

“…She doesn’t want me joining the military.” Fareeha knew that her voice was clipped, but she was too tired to control it. “My entire life has been me preparing to become a protector, and now, a week – a _week_ , Angela – before I’m eligible to enlist, and she starts this.”

“Fareeha, the world is not in good shape right now. It’s dangerous-”

“Not you too!” Fareeha jumped up from her spot, her body crowding Angela as she glared down to the woman before her. “The world was always dangerous, and always will be. That is why Overwatch was made, that is why armies are maintained. It will never be not dangerous, and that’s why I will join them, no matter what she, or _you_ for that matter, have to say about it.”

Slight hands took hold of her shoulders and gently pushed her back, making her sit on the edge of the bed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you,” Angela whispered.

Farah couldn’t meet her eyes, her fists still clenched and her jaw aching from the tension. Angela knew what this meant to her, she knew how hard Farah fought for this. Her headache returned with a vengeance and exhaustion pulled at her. “Whatever. Where am I sleeping today?”

“Fareeha, please. Can’t we just talk?”

“I’m tired.”

She watched as Angela nodded and retreated a few steps. “The guest room is just to the right. It’s ready and the bed is made.”

Fareeha nodded brusquely and marched out of the room, not sparing Angela a second glance.

* * *

 

The night was full of fidgeting and sleeplessness. The mattress was too soft, the room too warm. The sounds of Angela moving around her room too distracting as Fareeha tried to not think about their argument. Was it even an argument? Fareeha scoffed. She was looking forward to this trip more than anything. She cut her vacation with Gabe by an entire two weeks for this. She took all the exams her mom asked of her a month in advance. She even sent college applications because her mom said it was the only way she’d let her come with, regardless of the fact that Farah knew she wouldn’t go even if she got in. And all of this led to nothing. Angela was just as set against her dreams as her own mother was. Well fuck them all. Fareeha would do things her way from now on. No more living in her mother’s shadow.

She willed herself to close her eyes, and despite the storm raging in her mind, slumber took her.

* * *

 

Her anger tapered off the next morning, but she was quiet all day. She tried to stay angry she really did, but with Angela around it was really hard. The girl talked about her projects with so much passion – and also a lot of medical jargon that Fareeha was convinced that most of the things she was saying were once presentations – and she was bouncy and excited and so unlike the shy quiet girl that moved in with them nearly a decade ago.

"Can you imagine the possibilities?" Angela exclaimed as the two of them walked through a crowded park that Angela insisted they visit. The day was chilly by summer standards but the two of them bought a couple ice creams regardless and Fareeha had to keep herself from laughing everytime Angela managed to get the cream on the tip of her nose, wiping at it absentmindedly as she never wavered in her explanations, oblivious to Fareeha's mirth at her clumsiness. "All we would have to do is release them into the bloodstream and the program would do the job. We're already full of nanos all we have to do is manage to reprogram them. The thing that is the most troublesome is the memory space but Torb has been helping me and I think I figured most of it out. Actually, your visit is perfect because getting Torb to push something that is not a weapon with his superiors is useless, he gets too bored and ends up talking about his own projects. Maybe I can get Ana to ask the research division to fund me. The hospital and scholarships only have so much money to spare."

At the mention of her mother Fareeha felt her mood deflate and she sighed heavily. Angela's voice turned into background noise as Fareeha wallowed in her feelings, checked out of the conversation completely. It wouldn't matter she figured, Angela was doing enough speaking for the both of them. Fareeha finished her ice cream more out of keeping the sticky vanilla off her fingers than for enjoyment.

They reached a fountain and the loud laughter from a group of toddlers splashing each other mingled with the chatter from the clusters of people all around the clearing. The splashing of water and the flapping of birds' wings drew Fareeha's attention from the noise all around her and she closed her eyes to center herself.

"-Fareeha," Angela's voice broke through her bubble of calm.

"Huh?"

"You okay? You spaced out for a minute there."

"Sorry, I was just...listening," she finished.

"To what, it sure wasn't to me," Angela joked.

"I don't know, everything I guess."

Fareeha ignored her staring friend and kept her gaze to the skies, watching a flock of birds zigzag above them.

"Is this about yesterday?" Angela asked softly. "I really am sorry. I know how much this means to you. And for what it's worth you made an excellent protector as a child, and I don't doubt for a moment that you'll be an amazing one yet." Angela reached for her hand when Fareeha didn't reply and intertwined their fingers, tracing Fareeha's knuckles as she too looked to the skies. Fareeha squeezed her best friend's hand, trying to keep her inner turmoil at bay at least for the moment, enjoying Angela's closeness. She leaned her head on the older girl's shoulder and the two of them sat near the fountain, amongst the crowds, watching the skies together.

* * *

 

It was strange being back in her old room. After getting back from the States, Fareeha spent most of her time meandering around the Swiss base, not wanting to stay in her mother’s home while Ana was there, but her mom was out on a mission and so Fareeha sat in her computer chair. She pulled at the thread in the corner of the seat, where the leather was ripped and the fabric underneath peaked through, and though about her future. If Ana had her say, then Fareeha would end up in college on her way to a career in politics, and the last thing she ever wanted was getting into politics. She saw the strain that the bureaucracy of the organization put on Gabriel and Jack and even her mom. The two men fought about the ‘right way’ to do things more than she could keep count of. Gabriel ended up creating a whole new department just to keep his friendship with Jack, for god’s sakes. Blackwatch was not perfect, and it left Gabriel exhausted and drained, but it was something, and if she was speaking about imperfections, Overwatch wasn’t exactly a posterchild for pure goodness. Farah was more than aware of the destruction they sometimes left behind, and she had witnessed firsthand some of the places ravaged by them.

She remembered when she was twelve and her mom’s team was sent out to Moscow to resolve an issue between Volskaya and a band of Omnics. It’d gone sour fast and Overwatch wasn’t allowed back there ever since. The damage from the Omnic war was still getting fixed and with Overwatch bringing massive damage to the government buildings in their intervention, Fareeha figured the repairs had as much as an extra year added to them. She wasn’t even going to mention the aftermath in Rio or surrounding California.

No, Overwatch was not perfect, but she knew that if given the chance, she’d do her best to protect people, to make their lives better, to herald peace. It was her calling. She stared at the glow-in-the-dark stars on her ceiling, twirling in her seat as she contemplated. Her mother would be returning tomorrow and Fareeha would be leaving. She picked up her phone, finger hovering over Angela’s number, and she put it down. She would make this decision herself, just as Angela chose her own path.

* * *

 

Fareeha stood by the front door, her duffle bag packed and hanging on her shoulder. Ana stood before her, livid, furious. “You are not going anywhere. You are my daughter and you will respect me!”

“You won’t choose my life for me,” Farah said calmly, angering her mother even more.

“You will not be a soldier, you will not go to war, and you _will not_ join this forsaken organization! I will not watch my daughter die. I see enough of that as is.” Farah watched as her mother breathed heavily, her frustration manifesting in her shaking hands and trembling figure.

“I’ll take a cab to the airport, and I’ll send you a message when I get to Egypt.”

“I do not support this, do you understand me. If you leave this house, don’t you ever come back,” Ana threatened.

Fareeha felt a stab in her chest, her heart thudding painfully against her ribs. She said a calm goodbye and before her mother could move, was out the door. She marched the hallway, focusing on her path and blocking out the sounds of her mother’s muffled wails as they receded with every step. Her own eyes filled up with tears, and despite her best efforts a few managed to escape, rolling down her cheeks and to the floor.

The cab ride was lonely, and the airplane one even more so. The trip felt like days instead of a couple hours, especially when she checked the news and found that Ana’s unit lost several members on the mission they just finished, explaining her mother’s unstable emotions when she got back as Fareeha waited for her by the front door. The drive to the recruitment base she enlisted in was filled with terror at her uncertain future. The only consolation she had was the small spark of pride burning in her chest. She was actually doing it, she was following her dream and this was the first step.

The car stopped in front of a military complex. Fareeha, lanky and young and brave, took a step forward and then another and another. With every second her confidence and bravado built up, and by the time she walked through the front doors and reached the front of the line leading to a uniformed man with a recruitment list her chest was puffed up and her will steady.

She looked the man in the eye. “Fareeha Amari, reporting for duty.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow Fareeha take a chill pill my dude. But who wasn't a total shit at 16 am I right? So yeah, editing is satan's punishment for writers so I probably did a really bad job on that, but I'm tired sue me. Leave a comment my friends!


	5. The Boot Camp

Angela walked through the hospital halls, her patient’s chart in hand and her eyes glued to the screen as she miraculously avoided collision. It had been a month since Ana and Fareeha visited her and her schooling has been moved forward yet again. It came as a surprise really when she received the email with the details, and knowing that her residency was shortened for the second time made her excitement bleed into every aspect of her life. And that meant that instead of celebrating she used the high to work on her research. She was so close to cracking the technology, it was almost at the stage of testing. At this point she feared that Torbjorn was beyond annoyed with her, but he hadn’t complained so far, and maybe he was even almost as excited as her.

She reached the room, looking up to greet her patient when her beeper pinged. She looked down at the hologram and frowned. _Emergency room 1135, request for you specifically._ “I’m very sorry Mr. Greene, I just had an emergency come up. I’ll send a nurse in right away.”

She dashed back out of the room, ignoring the grumbling of the old man left waiting and asking a random nurse to check in on him. The elevator moved fast, and despite the couple stops, she reached her designated room within minutes. Nearly out of breath, she burst in only to freeze in her spot. In front of her was Gabriel Reyes himself, his face sporting fresh cuts that seemed to be superficially treated, and next to him on the cot an unconscious young man, his sleeve mangled and bloody.

“What happened.” Her voice was quiet, nearly inaudible.

“Assignment got iffy,” Gabriel grumbled.

Angela got moving. She approached the man, lifting the sleeve cautiously only to spot some crudely done stitching on the stump. Immediate danger no longer her concern she turned back to Gabriel. “I need to know if he was given any drugs, or if he has any allergies.” She absentmindedly messaged the nurse’s station asking for assistance and began to take out gauze and several tools. As she got to examining the man’s injury she couldn’t help glancing at the handcuff tying him to Gabriel, only noticing it now that her initial concerns were dealt with.

“Who is he?”

“He’s an idiot is what he is. Some dumbass kid who thinks that he owes someone something.”

“Why’s he cuffed? If he’s a danger then I need to get security posted at the door.”

“He’s not a danger, look at him. Ain’t nothing he can do in his condition.”

She glanced at Gabriel uncertainty. He looked back at her. With a sigh she went to work. The nurse helped check the man’s vitals and Angela quickly scheduled an emergency surgery. She wanted to talk to Gabe but her concentration was on the wounded man, and while Gabriel’s face did need stitches she was sure that he wouldn’t let her treat him first. She got up, going to prepare for the surgery, but before she left the room she turned back to Gabriel. “You and I are having a talk after this.”

“Oh trust me, we are definitely going to have a talk.”

Angela frowned at his cryptic phrasing and with one last glance at the hurt man she turned to set up the operation room.

* * *

 

Fareeha jogged on the outside of the group of sweltering recruits. The sun was high, everyone’s muscles were aching, and exhaustion managed to pass the physical threshold right into a mental one. The change in daily life was jarring, and while Fareeha was used to military life, she was never directly involved in the mechanics of it. Yes, she regularly exercised and all the adults in her life were constant examples and teachers for her, but holy fuck was she sore. She was pretty sure that she’d lost more weight than she gained muscle in the past few weeks. Just because the age for enrollment was sixteen did not mean that kids joined, and her fellow recruits were all years ahead of her, the closest one being a guy who was nearly nineteen, and while she was tall for her age, she was skinny, and no amount of martial arts helped her of getting out of sparing holds that she’d been subjected to, her strength failing where technique was unavailable. And even then, aching and sweating, she was in much better shape than most, keeping up with the sergeant leading the drills.

The run was coming to a close and she could see the barracks drawing nearer and nearer. She could feel the happiness in the group at the prospect of a moment’s relief. The drill sergeant slowed, a new one they were passed off to this morning, and as they approached their starting point he watched them line up in a messy formation. Giving the group a quick glance-over he stopped his gaze at Farah. She straightened her already ridged form and faced forward, the stance bringing her some comfort as memories of playing war with Gabriel resurfaced.

“You, you’re Amari’s kid yeah?” he asked her when he came to a stop before her.

“Yes.”

“I’ll be expecting a lot from you.”

She didn’t know how to answer so she kept quiet, staring at a spot off in the distance. Her hammering heart seemed to take longer than usual to calm after a routine run and she hated how much the mention of her mother messed with her. She called Ana a few days into the start of training, the soreness and abrupt shift in routines invoking a longing for her mom. Ana didn’t pick up. Fareeha remembered going to sleep that night, silent tears streaming down her face.

She only tried her once more in the passing days, although she did ring Gabriel more than that, always receiving no answer. She knew he was off on some assignment in the States, but the lack of familiar voices was hitting her hard.

The unit was dismissed soon after the run, and other than some drifters taking too long to catch up to the group, who were then forced to do enough push-ups to send Fareeha nearly running to get away in case the sergeant decided to let the rest of them get in on the action, the majority went back to their bunks for the half an hour they had before they needed to attend more classes.

Fareeha reached her bunk, collapsing on the thin mattress. She fished her phone out from her drawer and opened contacts. Her mother’s name was the first. Angela’s second. Her finger drifted over to the contact, swallowing her pride and clicking it. The line rang, and rang, and Ana didn’t pick up.

Heaving a heavy sigh she hung up and dialed Angela. They haven’t spoken since her visit and she was hoping to at least hear her voice. It rang a couple of times and finally someone picked up.

“Angela?” Fareeha said, realizing in that moment how weak she sounded. Her voice was a few octaves higher than usual, and her chest hurt.

“Hey, Farah.” It wasn’t Angela’s voice. It was gruff, and raspy, and oh so familiar.

“Gabriel?” she asked, surprised.

“Hi kid. How have you been?”

“Why do you have Angela’s phone?”

“Let’s just say field medics aren’t the best surgeons.”

The image of the closest person she had to a father figure sitting in a hospital, hurt and in danger made Farah sit up briskly, her heart starting another marathon. “You’re hurt?!”

“No, no. I’m okay. Someone under my command is. Angela is there now helping him out. Don’t worry I’m okay. So what’s up? You never call Angela. Everything okay?”

“I just wanted to hear a familiar voice.”

“I see, your ma out on a mission or something? I haven’t had the time to call her yet.”

Fareeha knew he was out of the loop, and in a way that made her leaving that much easier, but she knew how much it would hurt him if he found out what she did. He always looked so happy to see her when he got back to base, sometimes even more so than her mother. “No,uh…I don’t really know.”

“Don’t know?” She could practically hear the frown in his tone.

“I’m not at the base right now,” she said cautiously.

The line was silent for a moment, one that seemed to last for hours. “Where are you?”

“…in Egypt.”

“In Egypt,” he repeated.

“Yes.”

“And why are you in Egypt?”

She felt her face hear up in shame and embarrassment. This whole running away idea seemed worse and worse every day. She didn’t know how to come out with it so she braced herself and just said it. “I joined the army.”

Gabriel didn’t say anything for a long while. Fareeha felt herself burn, her entire body sweating and her neck hot to the touch. She sat on her bunk and waited for him to start yelling, and when that didn’t happen, she realized how much worse that was.

“Gabe?”

A heavy sigh greeted her. “What did you do? Fareeha, what did you do.”

“I’m sorry,” she said. Her eyes started to sting, and she couldn’t help the waiver in her voice.

“Oh, god, what have you done.” He sounded calm, and tired, and done with everything. She could picture him rubbing the back of his head as he did when he didn’t know how to proceed, and he almost always did. The churning in Fareeha’s stomach that’s been steadily growing increased tenfold and she was sure that she was going to be sick.

“I’m sorry.”

“I can’t talk right now. Please call me back. Or I’ll call you. Whichever comes first. Oh, Farah.”

The line went dead before she could say anything else. The busy tone rang in her ear, but her body refused to move. She sat with the phone against her ear, her entire being in a state of chaos hidden in her prone form. She was aware of people moving around her, the barracks filling up as everyine trickled in to get their things for their lessons. It wasn’t long before she was left alone, the phone resting in her lap, her eyes never looking away from it.

She gathered herself, taking deep breaths and building her walls back up. She wouldn’t give up. Not just yet.

* * *

 

Angela sat in her office, the chair not yet broken in, and the desk still feeling foreign, and much bigger than she was used to. Jessie McCree’s chart was sitting before her as she wrote her diagnosis and filled in the details of the surgery. The document was nearly done when her office door opened and Gabriel walked in. She didn’t think it was possible, but he looked even more exhausted than he did before she left him in her office so he can be comfortable while she worked on his captive. He wasn’t in here when she got back nearly half an hour ago, and so she worked, waiting for him to get back.

“Hi Gabriel.”

“I heard the operation went well.”

“Yes, it went without any problems.”

“That’s good. He’s in his room?”

“Yeah, a couple of agents are at his door, I figured you sent them?”

“Yeah.” Gabriel took the seat across from her, leaning his large interwoven hands on it, and immediately making Angela feel like she was in his office and not the other way around. “There’s another reason I came here. They were gonna send someone else over later, but I was already on the way here so they let me handle it.”

“Handle what?” Angela asked, her blue eyes wide as her brain raced to try and figure out the reasons for Overwatch to need to send someone over to talk to her.

“We want you. Overwatch is always looking for people like you. You’re a very intelligent young woman, and you’ve been advancing in your field very quickly, your accomplishments distinguishing you from your peers for years. The researchers that work with us have been following your work, and they find it tremendous. So yeah, what do you say? Do you want to join Overwatch?”

Angela didn’t know how to reply. The first thought that passed her mind was to ask Gabriel if he was pranking her. The second was what would her boss say when she tells him that she’s quitting barely two months into working here. The third wasn’t a thought at all, and was more of a static infiltrating her mind. What was she supposed to say? In a way she already made up her mind, but at the same time with the way she’s progressed through her life it was one whiplash after another, and was she really ready to take up this opportunity?

“Yes.” It was never a choice. She said the word carefully, as if it would break at any moment now. Gabriel gave her a slight nod, stood up and opened his arms with a smile. She rushed around, slamming into him. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“You’re welcome kid.” He engulfed her in his arms, his muscles cutting off her air, but in that moment Angela truly understood what Fareeha meant when she said that Gabriel’s hugs made her feel the safest she’d ever been. “We’ll give you a few days, and then when you’re ready, we’ll be waiting for you to come home.”

She hugged him harder, and despite the tears leaking down her face she was the happiest she’s ever been.

* * *

 

Fareeha aimed the handgun across the field. The sounds of the others’ shooting was muffled through the ear plugs, and her arms tremored from the constant recoil of the weapon. Her shoulders were aching from the daily drills. Her sergeant stood behind her, his hawky eyes watching the target as it got more and more porous. Fareeha ignored the sweat sliding into her eyes, her hair clinging to her neck in the heat. Her glasses did little to help block out the glare from the sun, and her skin burned.

She felt more and more uncomfortable as the man watched her progress. A constant whisper resonated in her mind. _Amari’s kid…expecting a lot from you…Amari…Amari…Amari_. Her mother’s shadow hung over her, and in some ways that was much worse than the constant attention from the senior staff. She emptied the last of the bullets and lowered the gun. The target was full of holes, but her accuracy left a lot to be desired. She stood watching it, refusing to turn and see what the sergeant thought about her shooting. After a few very tense seconds he turned and moved on to the others, leaving her without a word, almost strolling.

She felt her gut churn with failure. It was their first official target practice, and the first time in the month they’ve been here that they’ve been left with weapons at their own disposal. She looked at the others, their targets just as messily hit, other than a couple of people who managed to hit them with much greater accuracy.

She put the safety on and was about to step away from the exercise when the sergeant came back carrying another few mags.

“Again,” he commanded.

Fareeha swallowed the lump in her parched throat and took the magazine. She reloaded clumsily, still getting used to the weapon, aimed, took the safety off. Her finger squeezed the trigger. The bones in her forearms reverberated, the muscles screamed. She unloaded the gun, the bullets hitting the target one after the other. She was hyperaware of her calm breathing, the heavy constant thud of her heart, slow and methodical. Everything around her blurred away until it was just her and the sheet of metal a dozen meters in front of her.

He handed her another clip. She emptied it again, and again, and again. With each one, the bullets came closer together. She squeezed her finger one last time. Her arms ached. She put the safety on and lowered her gun, holstering it when there were no more mags left.

She finally looked at the man, noticing for the first time that everyone else was already finished and were making their way to the training grounds to run drills. His eyes gave nothing away, but she couldn’t help but feel like a massive disappointment.

“It’s okay. That was fine for the first time. We’ll get you up to par soon enough.” His voice was cold and detached. He wasn’t talking to Fareeha, he was talking to an Amari. She grit her teeth. She would be better. “We’re doing the obstacle course, they’re starting. You better catch up, I want you to finish first. If you don’t, two mile run.” Farah watched him turn and stroll towards the course leisurely. It only took an instant for her to realize what he expected, and she was off as fast as her legs could carry her.

She sprinted towards her unit, her legs hurting from the weeks of intense training. The rest of them were already starting, their uniformed bodies running and climbing and crawling through the obstacles. She felt anxiety infiltrate her lungs and her heart hammered away. By the time she reached it several people were already half way done. She helplessly followed their lead, sprinting through the tires laid out, climbing the wall, swinging across the mud pool. Obstacle after obstacle she pushed herself.

The last stretch involved them crawling beneath a network of barbed wire. She tried, oh god she tried so hard. With stinging in her eyes she watched as six recruits stood around the finish line stretching, the course long finished. She finished the crawl, her lungs burning, her clothed dirty.

“Amari,” the sergeant shouted, calling her over. She jogged over to him, breathing heavily, heaving and coughing as she tried and failed to stand at attention before him. “Sixteen laps. Go,” he said.

And so she ran.

* * *

 

Angela sat at the table, Torbjorn across from her, walking from the kitchen and carrying a large cake. Angela’s cheeks hurt from smiling so much as the two of them celebrated at Torb’s urging. The cake was her favorite, and they cut into it happily.

“I’m so excited!” she babbled. “Not only are they hiring me, but Gabriel told me they’ll fund my research. Can you just imagine the possibilities? I am officially your colleague.”

Torb laughed merrily, the cake muffling his voice somewhat. “I don’t doubt for a second that you’ll do great. I’ll even get started on the caduceus for you.”

“Really?! Oh thank you thank you thank you!” She reached over the table bringing the stocky man into a massive hug. “This is so exciting!”

“I bet. This is the beginning of something great here my dear girl. I know that you’ll do wonders. Are you ready?”

She looked at him, her eyes bright. “More than anything.”

* * *

 

Fareeha opened her eyes. The sun shone into her sleep riddled face, her temples pounding. Everything was sore. She could hear the shuffling of her unit, the cadets moving around the barracks getting ready for the day. She forced herself to stand up. Brushing her teeth was hard, her arms feeling like jelly. Changing into her fatigues was painful; making her bunk even more so. She settled onto the made bed, tying her shoes with unyielding fingers. The calluses on her palms were angry and red and some had the skin peeling painfully.

She rushed regardless, ignoring the pitiful looks she received from the rest. She couldn’t let it get to her, they might feel bad, but she had to be better. Her mom still hadn’t called her back. She had to be the best. She had to make Ana proud. She was first to finish the morning routine, waiting before her bunk, stoic and strict. One by one the rest took their spots as the sergeant made his rounds. He took longer checking her station, she didn’t care, it was expected by now.

The drills were some of the longest in her life. They took the usual amount of time, but she was in agony. Ignoring it to the best of her ability she went through the drills as fast as she could, being better, being stronger. By the end of the day, after the lectures and classes and practices, she was numb. Her throat was hoarse, she hadn’t made a sound all day.

The sun set hours ago. Her food tray sat in front of her. She ate methodically. She felt like she was going to be sick, but she knew if she didn’t eat it would be worse, and so she finished the food a spoonful at a time. They made their way to the barracks after their meal, several people collapsing onto the bunks with groans. She refrained, going to check her phone first. She knew that if she sat she would pass out there and then. Her hopes were low as she turned the screen on, and so when a notification that was not from Gabriel came up her eyes widened and her pulse sped up. She opened it and saw a new video message from Angela. She clicked play.

Angela grinned at the shaky camera looking breathless and excited. “Fareeha, you would not believe what happened!” Angela’s giddy laughter filled the speakers. “They hired me! Overwatch hired me! Can you believe it! On mein gott, I am so excited, I can’t wait to see you guys again. It’s only a week away! Torb is coming too for a while, and we’ll be working on my project for real now. It’s amazing! I’m coming home,” she squealed.

Farah watched as the video ended. If she had energy left she was sure she’d break down there and then. She never regretted joining the military more than in this moment. She opened the messages, sent Angela an enthusiastic ‘ _Congratulations!!_!’ and tossed her phone back into the drawer. She took a shower, and shuffled back across the barracks. People moved out of her way as she winced and limped with every step, and no one said anything as she lay down on her bunk, not bothering to get under the blanket. Her eyes shut and she was dead to the world.

* * *

 

Angela pulled her luggage after her, Torbjorn keeping in stride near her as they walked across the landing zone. Angela got a heavy dose of déjà vu as she walked past the hangar that she so often passed on her way to greet Ana after a mission. The base was less busy than she remembered, but the rest was the same. She rushed excitedly to the main living quarters. Before the building waited a group of chatting people. In the center stood Gabriel, a grin on his now scarred face, and not far behind him were the others. She saw a couple of her tutors, and Jack, and several of the agents that she would hang out with when Fareeha dragged her around when they were kids.

She met him in a warm hug, and moved on to the others, enjoying the pats on her back and the warm greetings. It didn’t take long to notice an absence though. Neither Fareeha nor Ana were present.

“Where’s Ana,” Angela asked Gabriel and Jack.

Morrison rubbed his arm awkwardly, and let Gabriel answer. She could see the tension in Gabe’s jaw. “Ana is around. Lost half her unit last mission. She’s taking it pretty hard.”

“…and Fareeha?” Angela asked cautiously.

“She left.”

* * *

 

Fareeha held her phone. Her mother’s face showed on the screen, the phone ringing in her palms. She hadn’t heard Ana’s voice in over a month. Her last attempt to contact her was over a week ago and she wasn’t sure if she was ready to talk to her mom anymore. Everything in her was screaming to hang up. She answered.

There was a long silence, neither of the women speaking. “Fareeha?” her mother croaked after a while. She sounded tired.

“Mother,” she answered.

“How- how are you?”

 _Do you care?_ “Fine.”

Another silence.

“I’m sorry,” Ana whispered.

“I know.”

“I’m so sorry Asfoora, I’m so sorry. Please, come home.”

“I can’t do that mom.”

“Please,” she whispered, tears evident in her voice.

“I’m okay mom. I promise.” Farah moved the phone from her ear, hanging up. She turned it off when the line lit up with her mother’s picture again, not willing to talk any longer. _I’ll make you proud, mom. If it is the last thing I do, I’ll make you proud._

* * *

 

The Swiss base felt different with Ana and Fareeha gone. Angela lay in her old bed, the one Ana bough her after a few weeks of sleeping on the couch. It was much smaller than she remembered. The apartment felt bare, and the silence was deafening. Ana was a shadow of what she was, her eyes red-rimmed and swollen, her cheeks blotchy. Angela could hear her crying through the walls.

_“I’m so sorry Asfoora, I’m so sorry. Please, come home.”_

Angela felt herself tear up at the desperation in the woman’s voice.

_“Please.”_

The silence stretched again, and then Ana wailed, her sobs permeating the apartment. Angela didn’t know what to do. This was not what she imagined her homecoming would be like. Ana’s greeting was a hug and sad tears, and Angela felt truly scared. This was not what her, for all intents and purposes, foster parent was supposed to be. Ana was strong, and this wasn’t strength that Angela was hearing.

She was moments away from standing and comforting Ana. Angela couldn’t watch the woman that was the pillar in her life collapse. It was then that someone rang the front door bell. She head Ana shuffle over and open it.

“Ana? I just came to check up on you…What’s wrong,” Gabriel’s voice carried through the bedroom door. Angela lay and listened.

“She’s not coming home,” Ana sobbed, “I lost her. I lost my daughter.”

“Ana, look at me. Look at me,” he commanded softly. “She’s strong, she’s smart. You raised a great kid. She’s okay. She’ll be okay.”

“I let her go. I did this.”

“I called the base earlier, her superiors say she’s fine. She is okay Ana.”

“You don’t know that!” Ana screamed. “You know nothing about her.”

“She’s my daughter too damn it! You don’t think I worry? We’ve all seen this coming for years. She’s a fighter. Now pull your shit together!”

“This job will kill her,” Ana said, hysterical.

“It hasn’t killed us. There’s nothing we can do right now. Now pull yourself together, and get your head screwed on right. You are a captain, so go out there, and get your shit together, and fucking lead your team!”

“Half my team is dead.”

“Half of them aren’t. I didn’t come back from a month long shit-fest to babysit you because you pushed her away.”

“Don’t you dare lecture me on how I raised my daughter!”

“Everything she did she did because of you, she wants you to be proud. Maybe you should have just been her mom first and soldier second. Or maybe you should have, oh I don’t know, let me help?! You know what, fuck you Ana.”

Angela listened to him stomp out of the apartment and Ana walk towards her own room. The doctor lay curled up, the blanket over her hiding her from the world, with her palm stifling her cries as silence settled in the quarters again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm tired, it's 2 am, editing can go suck a dick, I don't know what else to say. Did y'all see that twist coming though? I bet not. Also sorry for tossing an angst brick at your faces, but also not sorry cause it's fun.


	6. The Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hehehe, hahaha, hohoho, y'all gonna kill me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long. I am a person with less than average amount of responsibilities, but I handle them just as well as Angela handles her gayness so yeah. Also didn't look this over so my bad for any mistakes.

The unit sat around the table, some with the chairs backwards, others opting to sit on the actual backs of them. Pharah stood by the screen, the hologram of the layout lighting up her eyes, tinting her skin blue. She spoke calmly, her voice carrying through the room. Her team listened aptly. This was her third mission as Lieutenant and her track record was perfect. Her team made it out every time, without error, without injuries, and with more than what was asked of them. She was professional, and while the aloofness of those under her bothered her from time to time, they were never less than perfect during missions.

She appreciated the lineup she received. Seven highly qualified experts, each with a more than promising future in their field. All she had to do was make sure they lived through this one. Securing this area would help them pacify the region, and subdue several branches of Talon. The terrorist cell had been sinking its claws into Egypt, slowly seeping into the country’s security, and putting the entire population into danger.

Pharah was still Private Amari when the army started taking the threat seriously, and while there were more than enough insurgent groups still lingering after the chaos of the Omnic era, Talon took the spotlight when they targeted several research bases, injuring and killing dozens of government employees. They were the first target Fareeha faced, and she knew that they would be the ones that Pharah was sent to hunt. As her unit always said, to hunt a talon send the eagle.

The briefing went fast, her team walking off together to set up a plan. Fareeha closed up the files, and took a seat. Her body sagged, and her eyes drifted shut with exhaustion. The light hum of the equipment lulled her, and the dim lighting eased up her headache. The recon has taken a lot out of her people, and it sure did a number on her, and while she wasn’t new to these small missions, she was new to the whole leadership role. Everyone on her team was an officer, and when she followed her previous lieutenant she was an officer as well, and this was finally her moment to prove herself.

“Hey eagle-eye,” Meena said, popping her head into the room and shattering the silence, “you joining us any time soon?”

Fareeha opened one eye and looked as the soldier walked in fully, holding up a can of beer and wiggling it teasingly.

“Saeed and Naser got surveillance tonight, so we’re free for the evening,” she sang.

“I don’t think we should drink. We move in on the town tomorrow.”

“Aw come on, boss. You’re old enough now that it’s not illegal. You know you wanna.”

“That joke got old after the first time.”

“Yeah, the lead being younger than everyone following her is never gonna get old. …pun intended.” Farah rolled her eyes at Meena’s grin, trying and failing to keep her smile under control.

“Thanks, but I think I’ll pass. I’m gonna enjoy watching you idiots stumble around tomorrow.”

“Fine. If you want, the offer is still on the table, as is the beer. And if we get him drunk enough, Mustafa might even strip.”

Fareeha gave her a dismissive smile and wave and as Meena stepped out, closed her eyes again. She focused on the small dust trails shining in the light from the several displays in the room, letting her muscles relax and her thoughts calm. The parameters for tomorrow’s operation still lingered, but she liked her job enough for that not to bother her, instead immersing herself in it. She wanted to go to bed.

The ping of an incoming transmission pierced the air. She turned her wrist, turning on the call.

“Lieutenant,” a voice greeted her. She recognized it. It was the same specialist that connected her team to her superiors on multiple occasions.

“Ali,” she answered.

“We got a change of plans.”

She sat up, her face scrunching as she shifted into soldier mode. “What change, we’re set to go for tomorrow. Everything is in place.”

“We have people coming in. You are to assist them.”

“Assist? We’ve been here for a week, the mission is a go. Everything is set up.”

“We understand. The schedule shouldn’t be affected. You are to assist.”

Fareeha seethed. This was her mission, they planned it out and everything was in place. It wasn’t routine, it was a huge push back to a great threat, what were they thinking? “Understood. Do we get to know who we’re ‘assisting’?” she asked calmly.

“A few agents of Overwatch.”

Her jaw ached. “Fine.”

She ended the transmission, and took a breath. The faint laughter of her team filtered into the room. She rubbed her temples, and shut down her terminal. Tomorrow would be a long day, she was sure of it. She shook her head and walked to the door, looking forward to the can of beer waiting for her. And who knew, maybe Mustafa’s dancing would be enough to lift her morale.

As she left the dark room she couldn’t help but wonder: who could possibly be so important that the army would jeopardize their effort against Talon.

* * *

 

The halo glittered in Angela’s hands. The alloy was spotless, and shiny, and perfect, and all her hard work was finally ready to be tested. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to cry with joy or go and throw up from all the nerves. She tested the caduceus time and time, and both the trials in the lab and on actual patients yielded promising results. Now all that was left was to put it in action. She carefully placed the headgear back on its display and closed her locker. It was getting late and she knew she had to get a decent amount of sleep if she was going to be ready. After all, it was going to be her first time out in the fray of things. Jack made certain to train her as best as he could, and Torb even amped her sidearm, but with all the simulations she still doubted the experience would be anything like what she was used to.

She left the locker room, and made her way across the grounds and into the residential area. Her room was in the housing closest to the science building, and that meant that she was far away from Ana and Gabriel. It was sad really. Ana gave her the life she had today, but Angela was starting to question the cost more and more each day. The woman was cold and calculating, and her demeanor, social and friendly and kind, made her all the more dangerous. She’s seen the plans she asked Torb to draw up. The healing agent wasn’t even field tested, and already she was pouncing at the opportunity to weaponize it.

It was painful to remember her cut her ties with Ana, but as she entered the low building and saw her friends gathered in the commons the distraction lifted from her thoughts. The newby Winston was difficult to miss, and Mei was very hard to spot as he towered over her, the two of them looking at something on one of the white boards that were seemingly everywhere. There were at least three in the commons, she got a peek to a couple in the kitchen, and even once saw one in the showers. It amazed her when she just started working here, but after five years with the agency the mysterious appearances of random boards became merely amusing.

She sneaked up on the two, managing to steal half of Mei’s sandwich while the two scientists stood with their backs to the tables, engrossed in their conversation. She leaned over Mei’s shoulder, chewing on the newly acquired lunch and reading the notes written in hasty shorthand. The two still didn’t notice her, despite her almost quite literally breathing down Mei’s neck. It wasn’t long before Angela herself was lost in the discussion, half listening, half ignoring the two and reading over their shoulder. It was only when she fully leaned onto Mei’s shoulder that she was noticed. With the way Mei yelped into her ear, Angela was grateful that her eardrums didn’t burst there and then.

“Oh Angela, you scared the life out of me,” Mei said, nearly breathless.

“Sorry, that looks fascinating,” Angela replied, not taking her eyes away from the board. On it were several quick calculations, but in the center was a rough sketch of what looked like a gun but definitely wasn’t if Angela did understand what she thought she understood.

“It’s something I hope to work on more when we get to the base,” Mei commented. “The team is all here, we’re just waiting on the go ahead.”

“I’m just sad that we didn’t meet each other earlier. Your work is very interesting,” Winston said, adjusting his glasses. He only arrived a few weeks before and already Angela felt like he’s been with them for years. Mei and she were more than excited when they found out that they were going to get an actual member of the catastrophic experiment on their moon base. The possibility that something good came out of that blood bath was a great boost to the team’s morale, and Winston’s thirst for knowledge, one matching Angela’s and Mei’s own, made him a great asset.

“I am sure that we will work for many years together. The trip should only take a few years, and I have no doubt that with all the discovery we’ll make it will go by fast.” Mei was jittery with excitement and Angela couldn’t help but smile at her friend. She was happy to see Mei’s work bring her such joy. She very much reminded Angela of herself when she was new to this. The same drive, the same commitment.

“You should write a journal while there,” Winston suggested. “The communications will be sparse and it would be excellent to be able to read all of your findings when you get back. And who knows, you might like writing it all down. I know I enjoy keeping journals on my work.”

“You know, that’s not a bad idea,” Mei agreed.

Angela finished off the sandwich and took a last look at the diagram on the board. “Well, I’m off to bed. Big day tomorrow.”

“Are you excited?” Mei asked.

“Oh, I am beyond excited. I have been working on the caduceus for years, and it’s finally ready. It will save so many lives.”

“It is you who will save them, Dr. Zeigler,” Winston said.

“Did you get your codename yet?” Mei asked.

“At the debrief just before, yes. Jack called me ‘Mercy’.” Her eyes teared up, but the blinding smile on her face more than made up for it. Mei smiled back and before Angela could react she was swept up in a massive hug from her. Winston, too awkward for hugs, patted her shoulder in affection.

“Well, Mercy, I wish you luck on your first mission.”

Her first mission. She would prove herself. She would save lives.

* * *

 

Fareeha regretted the alcohol as her team gathered their supplies. It wasn’t that bad, but the slight pounding in her temples was frustrating her, and she hated being frustrated on the job. The rest of her squad milled about, drinking water and groaning at any loud noise. Fareeha grit her teeth. She should have been more firm with them. This mission was important. It was her chance to show everyone that she deserved her rank, and that it wasn’t her mother’s name that made her. And now, the mission was unraveling with the interference of Overwatch, and her team looked like they just left a bar after a bender.

This wouldn’t do. They were too slow with the preparations. She picked up a thick binder from yesterday’s debrief and with great satisfaction let it drop to the table. The synchronized jump her team performed was worth it, as were the annoyed stares that quickly found her.

“What the fuck, Lieutenant,” Mustafa groaned. Out of them all he put away the most alcohol, not enough to get him to strip, but the team sure did their best to get him hammered.

“Pick up the pace, we have to be ready in fifteen. Rendezvous with Overwatch is in an hour,” Farah ordered.

“Sir, yes, sir,” he replied halfheartedly, loosely saluting her as he zipped up his pack.

The tactic worked and Fareeha watched proudly as her team readied up earlier than she hoped. It wasn’t long before they set off.

The closer they got to the meeting spot, the more nervous she felt. She tried to keep it out, but it was getting progressively more difficult with every minute. The chance of her mother showing up was slim, Ana took on bigger missions, but the fear was eating at Farah. She hadn’t spoken to her mother in months, and when she did the conversation was professional and stilted. Ana did try, but Fareeha was still bitter, but mostly just regretful. Maybe this meeting would give them a chance to fix things between them, well for Fareeha to fix things between them. Farah hoped her mom would be there.

The conflicting emotions distracted her long enough that the Overwatch ship was in view when she got a hold of herself. Their jeeps reached them just as the agents made their way off the transport. Fareeha dawned her helmet, the custom visor giving her the aura of authority she craved, and stepped out of the car. Her squad followed soon after. The five of them made their way towards the three agents moving supplies from their ship. Fareeha’s eyes zoomed in on the one most distinguishable. The woman had wings sprouting from her suit, and that was just ridiculous Farah thought, and while her back was turned the halo shone above her head, visible to all. Fareeha cocked her brow, trying to contain her frustration at the organization. Talon would see those wings from miles away, they were probably looking at them right now, laughing at Overwatch’s incompetence.

She took a deep breath and walked over to the woman, mentally preparing herself not to be rude. Technically Overwatch agents were a higher rank than her on average, with the exceptions of extraordinary initiates, but the agents messed up the careful planning that Farah’s team set up and she was not in the mood to be friendly. Besides, she hadn’t seen her mother here so her nerves calmed, despite the uncomfortable feeling of shattered hope coiling in her chest.

“Agent,” she greeted. The woman turned, startled, and Fareeha froze.

“Oh! Hello,” Angela greeted. She quickly eyed the name patch on Fareeha’s uniform. “Pharah,” she mumbled to herself before realizing that the soldier was waiting expectantly. “I’m Mercy,” she added quickly extending her hand, “it’s nice to meet you.”

Fareeha looked at her hand dumbly, Angela’s sudden appearance shaking her from her professional demeanor. It was only when ‘Mercy’ looked at her uncertainly that Fareeha snapped out of it and shook the pale hand. It took her a moment longer to realize that Angela had no idea who she was, with the visor hiding her face. The good doctor was looking her up, a slight blush decorating her cheeks, and Farah was quickly reminded of how absolutely _useless_ Angela turned in the presence of attractive women. Oh Farah could have so much fun with this.

She did her best to hide the mischievous grin that was threatening to break out and stood taller. Angela looked back up at the slight adjustment and the two of them stood in silence, still clasping hands, and Fareeha enjoying every second of Angela’s confusion.

“Ah, right. I suppose I should inform you why we are here,” Angela mumbled, her hand still shaking Fareeha’s.

“I suppose you should.” Farah never enjoyed using her officer’s voice more than now.

Angela seemed to notice that her hand was still shaking the soldier’s and quickly dropped it, the blush covering her cheeks growing more intense. “Yes… yes! Right! Uh, caduceus.”

“Caduceus?” Farah asked expectantly.

“My staff,” Angela said, pointing to the device resting against some crates behind her, “It’s capable of rapid healing and has worked incredibly well in a controlled setting. All that needs to happen now is the field test.”

Fareeha’s glee at messing with Angela died down as Angela explained. “Overwatch messed with this operation because they wanted to test something?” she growled.

Angela’s eyes widened and she seemed to clear some of the fog from her brain. “It isn’t just something, this staff is capable of miracles,” she said, the awe and pride clear in her tone.

“People have died to get us to this point. Talon needs to be taken down Angela. I lost friends to them,” Farah seethed.

“I can save them,” Angela whispered, her eyes wide.

“Testing your stick is not saving people, it’s doing a field test while my team is being put at more risk than they need to. I have five people, and we planned for five. Now we have to work around you as well? What were they thinking?! And where’re the senior agents anyway? The three of you don’t exactly look like you know what you’re doing.”

Angela listened as Fareeha chewed her out, her eyes squinting more with every word. Fareeha was breathing hard by the time she was finished, and she could feel the others staring, but her attention was lost when the doctor said a single word.

“How did you know my name? …Fareeha?” Angela’s thin voice was nearly inaudible with how high it got.

“Hey, ‘Mercy’,” she greeted awkwardly. The doctor lunged forward, wrapping her arms around the soldier, squeezing so hard that Farah was afraid the Caduceus would have to get tested sooner than Angela anticipated.

“Oh my god, how have you been, where were you? How are you?” Angela put her palms on Farah’s cheeks moving her face side to side as she looked her over. Farah let Angela do her thing until a burst of laughter broke out behind them.

“Who’s that, Lieutenant?” Mustafa jested while the rest of the team cracked up behind him. “We didn’t know you had a girlfriend.” The whipping sounds coming from Saeed didn’t help the situation.

“Aw come on guys,” Meena said, raising her hand to calm their laughter, “isn’t it obvious, that’s not her girlfriend, that’s her babysitter.”

“Oh, I bet she sat on her alright,” Mustafa said, reigniting the laughter, Meena included.

Farah glared at them, her arms holding Angela’s wrists as she moved the pale hands from her face. She quickly turned her attention back to Angela releasing her arms and taking a step back as she tried to regain her professional aura and avoiding looking at the reddening on Angela’s face. “Just ignore them, they’ll eventually grow bored. I really am happy to see you again, Angela. I just don’t want to lose any more people to Talon.”

“I’m sorry Fareeha, but I promise you, my invention works. It works so well. I… I did it Farah. I made a way to save everyone.” The look of pure joy shone on Angela’s face, and Fareeha just couldn’t say anything that would make it fall.

“I’m very proud of you. I always knew that you’ll succeed.”

“Thank you,” Angela said bashfully.

“It’s no problem. And hey, we’ll make this work. After all, you’re the doctor and I’m the protector, right?”

* * *

 

The small town was abandoned. Dust flew in flurries on the empty street. The sun made the air shimmer from the heat. Fareeha and her team moved towards one of the buildings, using it as cover. She felt somewhat safer with the sniper that was sent with Angela keeping a lookout. Lacroix, her name was, Pharah remembered. The other one, however, made Fareeha worry. His hat and poncho were about as conspicuous as Angela’s wings, and with the two of them trailing along with Farah was bound to get them caught sooner or later.

Meena and Naser were following their own route, the original one they had planned, a couple buildings down, while Mustafa and Saeed manned the equipment and relayed info from a couple miles down. She quickly checked on their position, the blimps that signified them blinking on her wrist display. With the infiltration going smoothly so far, she signaled for the teams to move on to the second phase. It was time to move in on the main building, the place they knew Talon to have holed in.

The two teams moved in, bypassing the empty houses swiftly and closing in on the two exits the two-story building had.

“Watch the top window,” Lacroix’s voice spoke into Pharah’s comms.

A silhouette of a man passed the top window just as Pharah held up her arm to signal her team to stop. She tightened a grip on her gun, getting her heart to slow down. It wasn’t yet time to get pumped up. That part was coming soon. They waited a beat, and after the sniper’s confirmation they moved up to the worn-down door. Pharah took one last look at Mercy and the cowboy, and with a slight nod she gave the command.

“Go.”

She kicked out at the flimsy piece of wood and the hinges tore as the door came down with a thud. Pharah heard a similar noise from the other side of the house, and the two teams navigated the building expertly. Pharah’s blood rushed in her ears and the familiar routine of checking the house made her adrenaline spike. The teams met up at the single staircase and the five of them moved up the groaning steps. The stair ended in a long hallway with windows on one side and three rooms on the other. It was through these that they saw the shadow pass. They moved together to continue checking the rooms. The first two rooms were empty, and then there was only one left. Just as Pharah opened the door Lacroix panicked voice made them freeze.

“It’s a trap,” she shouted, “Get out now!”

The warning came too late.

* * *

 

Angela didn’t know what exactly happened, but one moment they were all standing outside the room, and the next Fareeha was shoving her teammates out of the flimsy window and Jesse was yanking Angela with him. The searing heat from the flames that chased them was almost as painful as the deafening roar in her ears, and her vision was obscured by soot and debris. The feeling of their freefall wasn’t much more pleasant. Jesse’s metal arm dug painfully into her stomach, her wings pushed into her back and the caduceus nearly tore her arm off where it got stuck on a window frame they crashed through.

Jesse was the only thing that broke her fall. Her body ached from the impact and she hated to know what her partner was feeling in this moment as he curled into himself on the packed sand the moment Angela rolled off of him. If she could hear properly she had no doubt she’d be hearing his groans. Her wings felt heavier on her back as they sagged from her armor, and her staff lay several meters away, dented with sparks coming from the break near one of the sides. She scrambled for it, ignoring the screaming in her ribs where she landed wrong on them, but as her fingers wrapped around the staff movement caught her eye. A little ways off, Naser was holding his hands over a growing red stain over the soldier’s, Meena’s, stomach. Angela stood on shaky legs, using the staff as a crutch, and began to make her way over to them just as her eyes settled on a different figure.

Dust-covered and bloody, Fareeha lay on her back, her uniform and armor smoking from the explosion. The visor over her face was cracked and dirty, and the skin below had trails of dark blood offsetting the ashy grey of the dust. Farah’s leg looked misshapen and bent and her hands were mangled messes, skin torn and crusted in burns. Her torso was littered with bleeding punctures. Her eyes were open and searching as they looked to the side where her teammates were, and her bloody digits flexed as her hands shook and trembled halfway in the air. Helplessness filling the pit of her stomach, Angela rushed to her fallen friend’s side.

She collapsed by the girl, ignoring the pain in her own body as she took in the shape Farah was in more closely. She wasted no more time as she turned the caduceus on Fareeha, the yellow beam flickering as the staff began to do its job. At first it seemed to be working, but with every second, the beam got weaker and soon flickered out of existence.

“No! No, no, no,” she screeched as she tried over and over to turn the staff back on. She watched Fareeha’s pained face, watched her struggle to say something. With every moment the numbing ringing in Angela’s ears decreased and the sounds around her became more distinguishable despite the high pitch ringing nearly splitting her head in two. She could make out the incessant buzzing from her comms and the shouts from Naser as he called out for her. What she couldn’t hear was Farah’s voice as the soldier spoke, her bloody mouth moving and her throat bobbing.

“…Angela…ten minutes out…ease reply…” Amelie’s trepid voice phased back in, at the same time as Fareeha’s weak one reached her ears.

“Help her,” Farah spoke, her voice scratchy. “Please help her.”

Angela froze. She watched as the broken girl in front of her reached for her team, her broken body shaking and weak. Angela was never as scared as she was in this moment, with the girl that she grew up with dying before her. Unwanted memories clashed in her mind, and for several beats she just watched Farah struggle to breathe as she begged Angela.

“Save her, please. She has a family,” Farah cried.

Well Fareeha had a family too, and that was all Angela needed to shake herself out of her stupor. Her hands went to work, and she began to staunch the massive bleeds the soldier had with supplies from her bulky belt, her expert hands working purely with muscle memory. She ignored the weak hands trying to pull her own away, as Fareeha tried to get her to focus on the others.

“No, I don’t care,” Fareeha cried, “save her, please. Please _Mercy_.”

Fareeha’s pleas brought tears to Angela’s eyes and she blinked them away, unwilling to have her vision altered in these crucial moments. She would not let Farah die. As she worked, Fareeha gave up on trying to get to her team, collapsing fully onto her back, her body limp. Her sobs filled the air as she stared unseeingly into the sky, her eyes unfocused behind the cracked glass of her visor.

“I want my mom, Angela. I want my mama,” she sobbed weakly. Angela refused to slow down. She could see the ship she arrived in closing in on their position, and was aware that the rest of the team was congregating on their position, some sprinting towards the Meena woman, the others towards Angela and Fareeha. All of that didn’t matter. Only Farah was important in that moment. She tightened the makeshift tunicate she made around the injured leg, slowed the bleeding from the gashes in Fareeha’s torso. She did all she could.

As Amelie and Jesse rushed to her with a stretcher, Angela was finishing up on stopping the bleeding in Farah’s forearms and hands. The soldier was limp. Her face looked contorted, and the streaks from where her tears fell down her cheeks were in heavy contrast with her bloody, sooty skin, tinting red as they streaked down her face. Angela did all she could with what she had, and with numbness weighing her down, she watched as Farah was carried off to the ship once Angela deemed her as safe to move. Angela stood back up, ignoring the red staining her once pristine blue uniform, and rushed to the other injured woman, her emotions detaching and her mind shutting itself off to everything other than her training.

* * *

 

Angela waited in the hospital lobby, her eyes drooping from exhaustion. Ana messaged her several minutes ago that she was nearing the place so Angela figured she’d meet her herself. Besides, staying in Farah’s room was not something she wanted to currently do anyways. It wasn’t long before Ana stormed in, her strides long and brisk. Angela stood, and wordlessly met Ana in a strong embrace, burying her face in the woman’s neck, as the tears she’s been holding off for the past day finally escaped. She sobbed quietly into Ana, the older woman, soothing her hair and rocking a little in her spot.

“Shh, shhh it’s okay, my girl. It’s okay,” Ana whispered, her own eyes shimmering in the hospital lights.

“I’m sorry,” Angela pleaded, her voice cracking, “it was my fault.”

“She’s okay, she’s alive, it’s okay.” Angela could hear the pain in Ana’s words, whereas they should have been convincing. “Can I go see her yet?” Ana asked.

“Yes, she’s stable,” Angela said, sniffling and unwilling to detangle herself from Ana’s embrace. Ana released her and tucked her under her arm instead, keeping the doctor close as the two of them walked through the hospital, and to Fareeha’s room. As they entered it, Angela felt nauseous at the sight of bloody bandages covering Fareeha’s hands, only feeling more at ease as the machines measuring vitals beeped in a steady rhythm. She lingered behind as Ana walked to her daughter, grabbing a chair and sitting next to her bed. Angela let out a strangled sob as she watched Ana reach out to hold Fareeha’s hand only to realize just how much of it was missing. The combination of the botched mission, the frantic flight over to the closest hospital, and the eight hour surgery left her drained, and her emotions were starting to get the best of her. The sight of the two Amaris was too much and she walked out of the room, picking up her speed the farther she got away. Her walk to the roof was a blur, and she wasn’t aware of her own destination until she got there, but the warm breeze and the dark skies quickly slowed her heartbeat, and the rush of her blood in her temples receded with each passing moment.

She walked through the small garden, making her way to the empty benches off to its side, and settled in. She kept her eyes closed, and her head cradled in her hands, ignoring the stretch in her side where she bruised her ribs. The small aches slowly made themselves known now that Angela had a moment to herself. The cut over her eye stung, and the bruises on her shoulder blades throbbed dully from her bent position. She was sure that her ankle was swollen from a twist, and the tiny cuts on her knuckles burned annoyingly. Her entire body felt like dead weight.

Seeing Fareeha broken was painful, but cutting her open and sewing her up from the inside took much more out of her than she could ever imagine. With a heavy heart she realized that she would not be able to be Fareeha’s doctor anymore.

She heard someone approach her, but had no energy to lift her head. The person settled next to her and a cold palm touched her shoulder. She leaned into Jesse as he wrapped his arm around her, and the two of them sat in silence for a while.

It was Jesse that spoke up first. “What’s on your mind Doc?”

“…I…I can’t be her doctor.” Her throat felt scratchy as she spoke.

“Why not?”

“It’s too painful to see her this way. I fear I’ll make a mistake. I froze out there. Wasted precious moments. What if she was hurt worse? It could have been life-or-death.” Despite speaking softly, the silence of the night made her voice sound louder than it really was.

“Are you serious? Doc, by the time I managed to get up after that damn explosion you were already hard at work. You saved Amari, you saved her teammate, you got me looked at.”

“It took me a moment, but that’s all it takes sometimes. I’m just happy it wasn’t one of those times.”

She felt him pull her closer, and the stubble of his beard scratched at her forehead as he leaned his head onto hers. “Listen, partner, you were disoriented, you were hurt, you were tossed out of a window, and it was your first time out in the field,” he listed off, counting on his fingers in front of them. “You did your best and you saved her.”

“She wouldn’t have been hurt if we didn’t interfere with her mission,” Angela argued.

“I don’t think it was up that messed it up. Just think about what would happen if you weren’t there and she was hurt.”

“I hate it when you make sense,” she grumbled.

“I know, Doc.”

* * *

 

Fareeha’s eyes opened slowly. The light of the sun shone through the drawn shades, struggling to illuminate the room. She felt sore and numb. Her head ached, her torso hurt, and her limbs were cement. She reached up to rub at her eyes.

Small red splotches seeped through the white bandages, on the stumps where her fingers should be. She watched her hand for a long time, uncertain of how she felt at the discovery. She picked up her other hand, this one looking fairly okay, despite the flaking skin around charred knuckles. She put both her hands back down and looked at the ceiling. She knew what happened, knew her mission was a bust. She knew that there was an explosion, and that she got hurt. She remembered how much it hurt. But the thought most prominent in her hazy mind was the image of an angel drifting above her as she lost consciousness in those last moments. She wasn’t sure if it was real or if she imagined it, and her head hurt to think, but she wanted it to be real. She needed it to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...so yeah...hoped you liked!


	7. The Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fareeha is high, Angela is sad, everyone is a little gay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has been way too long, despite this chapter being done a while back (a long while back), so thanks for reading if you're still here! I'll try to work faster for the next one.

The initial confusion was overwhelming, leaving a numb fascination in place. Fareeha felt her index finger and thumb flex along with the three new stumps. The bandaging hid the extent of the damage, but there was no hiding the fact that there was nothing where her fingers used to be. It was strange. Not painful necessarily, but not very comfortable either. The hazy fog the unconsciousness left on her dissipated slowly. It took her a while to take her eyes off her now tired and shaking hand as she let it drop back to the bed. Only when her forearm hit something soft did she realize that someone was near her. The fact that they sat up the moment her arm touched them was also pretty telling to that fact.

“Farah?” a muted gravelly voice said. Fareeha glanced over and her already blurry vision blurred even more.

She hadn’t seen her mother in a very long time.

The pain of separation hit her almost as fast as the helplessness she felt in this moment. The heart monitor sped up, only for the beeping to be drowned out by the hoarse sob that broke in her throat. Her mom was here. She was really here.

Without a second thought, Fareeha reached out to Ana, barely noticing the IVs hooked up to her keeping her back with painful tugs. Ana herself launched at her daughter, enveloping her child in her embrace, sobbing along with her. Familiar hands soothed Farah’s hair and back, and Farah’s whole hand grasped the fabric of her mother’s shirt, the other trying it’s best to grip it as well.

In her mother’s arms, Fareeha finally felt herself snap back into alertness, the memories of the explosion flashing through her mind. The utter feeling of dread when she realized she led her team to their death, the knee-jerk reaction as she threw them through the window, the paralyzing fear for Angela when she realized that she wasn’t in her grip as Farah fell. She remembered the pain, the feeling of her skin melting. But most of all she remembered wanting her mother. Every argument flashed through her head in those moments, all of them seeming stupid and useless, and the sheer amount of time wasted on them made Fareeha’s heart break.

The next thing she remembered is the blood. Her blood, her teammates’ blood.

“Meena,” Fareeha said through her cries, “mama, what happened to my team, what happened to Meena? Where’s Naser? Mama, where’s my team?”

“Shh, child, shh. They’re okay. Shh,” her mother soothed. It was difficult to hear her mother’s voice.

“I let them down.”

“Fareeha, they are safe. It is you who is hurt, my girl. I’m so happy you’re alive. I’m so sorry Farah. I’m so sorry.”

Fareeha wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that. It was only when her muscles could no longer hold her up that she regretfully lay back down. She noticed her mother hold her burned hand instead of the one with the missing digits, despite it being farther away. With that observation, she decided to take a moment to take in her injuries. Her right leg was elevated and in a brace, the thigh throbbing dully in what would probably be pain if it weren’t for the meds she felt coursing through her veins. Now that her torso wasn’t being strained to hold her up, a multitude of bruises tugged at her attention after the exertion of the hug. She felt bandages encase her head, and patches on her back and stomach. She raised her blanket with her free hand, seeing a few thin strips of red seeping through the hospital gown.

“Mom, I think I messed up the stiches,” Fareeha said with her nasally, post-cry voice.

It was comical really, how wide Ana’s eyes got, and how fast she stood, yanking the blanket further down.

“Fuck,” Ana cursed.

Okay, _that_ was the funniest thing. Fareeha couldn’t help but let out a laugh, straining her stomach even more with the effort to hold it back. While Fareeha tried and failed to stop laughing, her mother pressed the assist button, and tried to get Fareeha to stop trying to sit up to get a better look at herself, and pushing her head down when she resisted, still laughing.

Farah watched with fascination as the red spread slowly, individual strands of the gauze turning crimson as the blood seeped through them slowly. Everything was funny in the moment, the bloody wounds, the pain, her mother’s worry, her own distant panic. It wasn’t even a minute before a couple nurses rushed into the room, immediately checking on Fareeha, as Ana stood back and watched helplessly. Fareeha’s hazel eyes watched as the padding from her stomach was taken off. A laceration as long as her missing fingers stood out from the dark bruises. That was funny too. She snorted as she tried to hold the laughter in, but it was in vain. Before long she was laughing once again, interrupting the nurse as she fixed the stitching, while the other one messed around with the IV.

It felt strange, the pain. It was there and if it wasn’t so funny she probably would have groaned from it, but at the same time it felt sort of numb. It was a painful numbness. Her laughter stopped abruptly. Well now it wasn’t funny at all. She stared at the skin of her stomach as the needle punctured it. The pinch and pull of the thread felt uncomfortable. Her mind struggled as she watched the wound close back up. She was sure that it was supposed to be painful, just as she now realized that her mirth from before was misplaced.

She lowered her head back down, grunting as the pressure from keeping it up that she hadn’t realized was there receded. It got difficult to follow what the nurses were doing after that, as all the energy in her evaporated. She looked at the ceiling for a long time. At some point the repetitive pressure of the needle disappeared, but she didn’t really care much. She felt her mother take her hand again, caressing it gently. Soon Fareeha fell back asleep.

* * *

 

Angela knocked gently and waited a few moments before walking in. The patient bed held a sleeping Fareeha, Ana sitting beside her with tear streaked cheeks. She didn’t fully turn towards Angela, but gave a slight nod of acknowledgment anyway. Angela ignored Ana’s inability to look at the bruises covering Angela’s face and chose to pull up a chair and sit next to Ana instead, leaning onto her guardian’s shoulder.

“How’s she feeling?” Angela asked softly.

“She woke up a couple hours ago, but the meds are pretty strong. She was as high as a kite,” Ana said with a chuckle, despite the hoarseness of her voice. A moment of silence passed between them, broken by Angela.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Okay.”

“Am I a bad doctor?” Angela whispered.

Ana whipped her head around, staring at Angela in shock. “Why would you think that? Of course not, Angela.”

“I haven’t really been helping people. I’ve been researching for years, but other than the couple of month before joining the organization I haven’t _really_ been a doctor. And the first time I was, my best friend nearly died.”

“Angela, you have created something wondrous,” Ana said, wrapping her arm around the woman that’s curled into her, “and it _will_ help people. And you saved Fareeha’s life and for that I will forever be grateful. You are an amazing doctor.”

“Do you think she’ll be mad at me?” Angela asked.

“No, my girl, she won’t. She loves you.”

“I hadn’t reached out to her for a long time…”

“None of us did,” Ana said heavily, “not Fareeha, not me.”

The two of them quieted then for a while, listening to the steady beeping of the machines, and the rhythmic rise and fall of Farah’s chest. The smell of the hospital calmed Angela, lulling her into a near trance. Her eyes grew droopy as she rested against Ana.

“This will scar her,” Ana said into the silent room. “Not physically, but worse. I really didn’t want her to be a soldier. If I could go back in time and change it, I would in a heartbeat.”

“Did it change you?” Angela asked quietly.

“A little before the war, yes. But it was after it that it hit the worst. The omnics…sometimes, just before their lights went out, you could see them look at you, and it was always hard to tell what their last thoughts were. It’s not like killing people, it’s easier sometimes, but then there are days where you wonder if it really is. With people you feel it deep in your stomach. It’s like- it feels like a drop, a bad kind, where you don’t have a safety net waiting beneath you, and it’s pitch black, and you don’t know when you’ll hit bottom. With omnics it’s easy, because there isn’t a moment before you pull the trigger where you hesitate. It’s always there with people, no matter how fast it passes, but with omnics there wasn’t a moment like that. Not ever. And sometimes, that’s what makes it worse. The detachment, the ease. The way your finger twitches with longing the second they’re in your crosshairs.

“I don’t want Fareeha to have that,” Ana finishes.

Angela listened silently, her eyes watering as she imagined Fareeha staying up at night, sitting in a lit kitchen, going over paperwork, or bills, or mission files, or anything other than sleeping. She remembered how often she and Farah woke up to see Ana passed out in her dining chair, sleep marks from the table cloth printed on her cheek, and bags under her eyes.

Angela sat up a little, eyeing Fareeha more closely. She seemed peaceful in a deep sleep. Angela hesitated. “…Ana? Can I ask you something?”

“Of course,” she said rubbing Angela’s arm in her embrace.

“Why isn’t her dad here?”

Angela regretted the question as soon as she asked it when Ana tensed up against her. She felt the woman exhale deeply. “What do you mean?”

“I just-I-I figured that maybe Gabriel would be here,” Angela whispered.

When Ana didn’t reply, Angela looked up hesitantly. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said a-”

“How did you know?” Ana’s voice was distant, her eyes set on her daughter, and her shaking arm not leaving Angela’s shoulders. She breathed in, gulping down a massive breath of air, releasing it shakily.

“I overheard you once…I’m sorry…”

“Did-did Farah?”

“No, it wasn’t that long ago.”

“Okay. Does she know?”

“I never said anything to her, I promise.”

Ana nodded, tears falling from her lashes. “I don’t know why I never told her. We just both agreed, and that’s how it’s been. He’s been wanting to tell her lately, but I can’t. I just…can’t.”

“Okay,” Angela said gently, “I won’t tell her.”

She leaned into Ana, closing her eyes. Her chest felt heavy, and so she focused on the steady beeping of Fareeha’s heart, and the dull thudding of Ana’s.

* * *

 

Waking up a second time was easier than the first. Her mind was less hazy, the light from the windows was less bright, and the pain was much more tangible. Fareeha groaned at the pull of her leg cast, and the static running through her foot. The skin of her left hand stung where her hand was scorched, the bandages pulling at it painfully. Her ribs screamed and her head pounded in tandem with her pulse, each throb a hammer.

She felt her pulse speed up as she struggled to sit up, but missed the sound of a person moving next to her. Everything was wobbly and shaky around her, so it took a while to focus her eyes on the shadow that appeared in front of her. The first thing to come into focus was the hand reaching for her cheek, the second, a tuff of blonde as the person hugged Farah tightly. Angela’s smell was familiar, Fareeha realized, despite the invasive scent of the hospital. She tried to hug her back, but as her hands reached up to return the embrace, vicious pain shot through her nerves. At her shout, Angela jumped back, and Farah finally got a clear view of her oldest, most dear friend.

While Angela fussed over her, Fareeha spotted the dark bruises on the doctor’s face, black patches covering the length of her jaw on one side, and outlining the undersides of her eyes. Her fingers were covered in cuts, and she seemed to favor her right side in her movements. The picture before her was enough to distract her from the pain.

“Farah, can you focus?” Angela asked. Her voice was difficult to hear through the ringing in her ears. “I need you to tell me how you feel.”

“How I…? Uh, My right hand hurts a lot. My left feels like it’s melting, and I’m pretty sure my brain is soup. Otherwise, I feel great,” she replied with a, hopefully, charming smile. “I like your eye shadow.”

“My-oh very funny. Maybe I should tell the doctors to up your meds again, smartass,” Angela chided.

“Why did they down them in the first place? I feel like shit.”

“You were stable enough for nano-therapy. They injected you about forty minutes ago.”

“Okay. …Is my mom -is Ana, uh, is my mom here?”

Angela said something, but it was difficult to decipher and the buzzing in Fareeha’s ears turned into a constant whine. She screwed her eyes, and waited until the pain receded. Refocusing on Angela she tried to listen again.

“-ar me? Farah?”

“What? Sorry, it’s hard to hear. My ears are buzzing.”

“Do you hear me now?”

“Yeah. It’s faint though.”

Fareeha watched Angela look over the chart, her brows scrunched as blue eyes flew over the data pad. While Angela worked, Fareeha let her mind wander. She wasn’t sure, but she had a feeling that her mom was here at least at some point. She remembered waking up, and she remembered worrying about her team, but she wasn’t sure who she was talking to, Angela or Ana. She took a look at her hands, struggling to raise them, and wincing when pain exploded in her burned arm.

Angela was talking to her again. “We’ll need to tell the doctor to do a hearing test. The nanos seem to be working fine, the bruising around your face and chest is fading nicely. The stitches are doing fine too. You’ll be in pain for a week maybe. Depends on how your body responds.”

“Aren’t _you_ my doctor?” Fareeha asked.

“I don’t work with this hospital. It was a miracle they let me conduct your surgery. I’ll have to thank Overwatch for having such a reach.” Angela didn’t take her eyes off her chart as she spoke.

“Yeah, I guess you’ll have to. …So, uh, I couldn’t hear what you said about Ana.”

Angela took her hand, and gently stroked the small patch of unharmed skin. “She’s here. She was here for a while. She’s just talking with Jesse. I think seeing you so hurt- it’s a lot,” she said with a crack to her voice.

“Okay. And for you? Is it hard? You don’t have to stay.” Fareeha cursed the heart monitor as it sped up, revealing her to the doctor.

“I almost lost you,” Angela said, her eyes tearing up. “You were so hurt, and there was so much blood.” Her shaking breath made Fareeha’s chest constrict with guilt. Farah always hated when Angela cried, it always made her feel like she failed, after all it was her job to protect Angela.

Fareeha reached out for a pale hand, wrapping her blistering fingers around it. “Hey, I think we both did our jobs. You were an excellent doctor today, and I think I was a decent protector, no?”

Angela laughed wetly, sniffling and wiping her eyes with her free hand, cautious of the vivid bruising on her face. “Yeah, yeah we did our jobs. I missed you so much.”

Angela leaned into Fareeha, desperately clinging to her as she cried.

* * *

 

The door opened as a man and a woman under his arm entered Farah’s room. The woman, Farah recognized, was the sniper that accompanied them on the mission, the man was not someone she’s seen before. Both their faces were serious, and the two held each other as they approached Fareeha’s bed. Angela stopped midsentence and walked towards the couple, quickly drawing the sniper into a hug. While the two embraced, the man turned his attention to the soldier.

He jutted his palm out to her, introducing himself, “Gerard Lacroix, pleased to meet you.”

Fareeha raised her hand to shake his, her bandaged finger stumps interfering with the action. She caught his eyes widening when he felt her damaged hand, but chose to ignore it as the pain took her attention away.

“I’m one of the directors of Overwatch. I wanted to come thank you for your service in person.”

“Why?” Fareeha asked. She had never seen him before, not once in all her years living in their bases.

He looked taken aback with her curt reply. “Well, your mother is an outstanding agent, and she raised two capable people who are determined and willing. I think that deserves praise.”

For a long moment Fareeha kept quiet, and then all at once everything clicked into place. A director of Overwatch was here to talk to her. They were going to recruit her! She had been working towards joining their ranks all her life, and finally the moment was here. She sat up as much as she could, her professional façade back in place.

“We did our job best we could. It was a shame it was an ambush,” she said.

“Yes, a shame. I’m very glad that there weren’t any casualties. That would have been unfortunate.”

There was a small lull in the conversation, and Fareeha braced herself for what was coming. Her heartrate sped up, but she kept it under control best she could. The man looked over her once and then awkwardly placed his hands into his pockets, shifting in place. Angela and her friend were finishing up the silent conversation they were holding and the young woman walked over to her.

“I hope you feel better, Lieutenant. That was quite a fall you all took there,” the sniper said to her.

“…yeah,” Farah replied dumbly. She could feel herself frown in confusion.

The sniper turned back to Angela. “I’ll see you back at base, Angel.” She gave her a kiss on the cheek and before anything else could be said the couple walked out of the room. Fareeha ignored the rapidly increasing beating of the heart monitor, and the warm hand that regained its hold on her own. Nothing made sense. If he wasn’t here to offer her a spot then why did he come? There was no reason for him to talk to her. She wasn’t one of his agents, she wasn’t even that high ranked. There had to be a mistake. Maybe he didn’t want to tell her while she was incapacitated, or he saw how badly hurt she was and decided against it. The thought hurt her. Her breathing increased with every second, and her chest began to hurt as her lungs worked overtime.

She couldn’t hear what Angela was telling her, nor did she see the door open again. All her senses were overwhelmed and numb at the same time. She barely noticed her mother’s face appear in her field of view, but that was enough. Of course. There was only one person who hated the idea of Fareeha joining their ranks, and she just happened to have the power to do something about it.

“Did you say something to him?” Fareeha asked hoarsely. She couldn’t hear a response or see Ana’s reaction but she kept going, “It was you, wasn’t it? You told him not to recruit me. It was you!”

Her ears rang, and her head pounded, and her body hurt. She lay back down, staring at the ceiling with vacant eyes. All the fight had gone out of her. She ignored Ana, for once thankful that her ears were fucked up, and let herself wallow. Besides, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to hold a conversation right now to save her life.

She wasn’t sure how long she stayed like that, but eventually her eyes grew tired, catching up to the exhaustion of her body, and drooped shut as she drifted into sleep.

* * *

 

When Fareeha woke up, Ana was gone.

Angela told her that Overwatch called her in, and now that Fareeha was stable, Ana didn’t feel too guilty about leaving and getting back to her job. Fareeha accepted it bitterly, hating herself for reverting to her childish ways of refusing to talk, but she was angry, and Angela was right there, a perfect target to take it out on. She knew that the doctor wasn’t at fault, she _knew_ , but she didn’t care right now if she was hurting Angela with her behavior. On the doctor’s part, she managed to handle Fareeha with grace for all of two hours until Fareeha really let her have it.

“Why are you here,” Fareeha seethed after Angela tried once again to start a conversation with her. “Shouldn’t you get back to base, _Angel_?”

She regretted the words almost immediately, as Angela’s eyes filmed over with tears, reddening at the brims, and she bit her lip to hide the wobble of her chin. “I’m sorry Farah,” she said, just before she turned and quickly left, failing to hide the sob that shook her shoulders before the door managed to close.

Fareeha lay in her bed, loathing herself for making the woman she loved most in her life cry. It wasn’t Angela’s fault that Fareeha wasn’t good enough, and it definitely wasn’t fair to judge the doctor for making friends when Fareeha was such a shitty one in the first place. She hoped that Angela wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye. She really hoped she didn’t mess up the last relationship she had in the world.

On que, the door hissed open and Naser pushed a wheelchair bound Meena into the room. The woman had a frown on her face, and Naser looked very uncomfortable pushing the wheelchair with only one hand while the other sat in a sling. The moment they made eye contact with Fareeha though both their faces lit up with a contagious grin that Fareeha quickly mimicked.

“Good to finally see you Humpty. Glad to see the babysitter put you back together again,” Meena said.

“I feel she’s more of a Mrs. Potato,” Naser added.

“I’m your commanding officer, dicks,” Fareeha said, glaring at them, “How are you feeling, Meena?”

“Aw, you do care, Lieutenant. I’m good. Doctors aren’t letting me walk around yet, but I’ll live. That girl of yours is one good field medic.” Meena unconsciously brought her hand to her stomach, keeping it there for a moment.

“She is.”

“My hand’s fine too, thanks for asking.”

“Sorry, Nassie, ladies first,” Fareeha replied, smiling smugly at Meena.

“This is so gay,” he muttered as he pushed the chair closer to Fareeha’s bed.

The soldiers chatted, and the sun gradually began to set. It wasn’t long before the two soldiers left, taking any sense of distraction with them. The residual ache of the incisions from the surgery and the burns on her skin weren’t a match for the thoughts running in her head. It’s been hours since Angela left her, and Fareeha was starting to worry that she would not be seeing the doctor any time soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How was that? Gay? Sad? Dumb? Great? Feed me with your comments.


	8. The Shitshow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is a point at which a house of cards must collapse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's not edited, my bad.

Fareeha sat in the closet sized room, wearing the headphones her doctor asked her to put on. Her body was sore, and the gauze on her hand itched the smarting skin. Her hospital gown was too thin and the hairs on her skin prickled with the chill in the air. The smell of medicine and clinical dryness lingered in her hair and clothes. Her temples throbbed. The faint pings sounded out in her left ear, one after the other, quieter and quieter as she nodded each time she heard one. After five or six, she had to strain her ears, frowning as she shook her head reluctantly.

“I don’t hear any more beeps,” she said out loud. It felt strange sitting in the enclosed space, her shoulders nearly touching the sides. She looked to her left, at the small window through which she could see the doctor and from where he watched her. She knew the doctor could hear what she was saying, and she felt her own voice resound in her throat while the headphones were on, but it was different now, after the incident, fainter.

“Okay, now the other ear,” the doctor’s voice drifted into the booth from a tiny speaker.

She listened and nodded and after two faint beeps she shook her head. She gritted her teeth and refused to look at the doctor as he clicked away at his computer for a few more moments.

“Okay Lieutenant, you can come out now.” He browsed the computer screen as Fareeha struggled into the wheelchair outside the booth, refusing the help of the nurse waiting in the room with them. “We can get you fitted for the hearing aids today, and it’ll take a few days to get them ready, but otherwise your hearing is fine. It’s much better that it was last week, but it seems the nanos did all they could.” He held eye contact with her, smiling warmly. Farah nodded and said nothing, waiting for the nurse to take her back to her room.

The doctor went about getting the specs for the hearing aids and she sat silently, nodding when she needed to, answering questions with a word or two and no more. It wasn’t long before the nurse wheeled her back to her room to allow her to change into sweats for her daily physical therapy. The session went quickly, with her thigh screaming at her as she did exercises and walked back and forth along the length of the room over and over again while her therapist encouraged her with her great results and amazing perseverance and willingness to heal. Fareeha was glad that she couldn’t hear most of it.

It’s been a week since Fareeha began nano-treatment, and while the wounds healed to their best ability, her mental state didn’t do her any favors. The first few days the excuse of her loss of hearing was valid enough to warrant the ignorance she held towards others. Angela was scarce, only coming to check on her for short bursts of time. Fareeha hadn’t even seen the doctor in the past two days. Others were starting to follow Angela’s lead. Her team had visited her once as a whole, but all but Meena had to go back to work. Fareeha was glad in a way. It was better for everyone to not be around her at the moment. Meena’s family came to visit, and Fareeha cried after Meena’s wife and daughter left. Meena herself had been called back to base just the day before.

Fareeha wasn’t certain where Angela’s team was, only being aware that the French woman left that day with the Overwatch director and probably her mother too. She’d seen the ridiculous cowboy a couple of times, but that was days ago. The only people that seemed to be constant were her superiors during vid calls, where she explained what went wrong over and over. Her reports were filed haphazardly, what with her hands out of commission for the time being, and her subordinates were placed with a different unit while she recovered.

As the nurse drove her back to her room Fareeha stared at her hands. The burns faded from angry red to puckered pink, and the minor ones nearly disappeared altogether. The three stumps on her left hand now had thin careful scars instead of black stitches atop them. There were times when she spent hours staring at them, ghosts of her digits haunting her mind as she watched the nubs wiggle awkwardly. Her hands shook and her head hurt.

She refused help getting into her bed, and settled over the sterile covers. She tried to sleep, but it eluded her as it had for the duration of the hospital stay. She got up instead, paced around the room, her limping gait creating a faulty rhythm of her slippers shuffling over the linoleum. She walked into the bathroom, washed her face, and walked back out to her room. Her leg ached.

Long moments passed, and Farah sat on her bed, flexing her leg and doing a few exercises despite her exhaustion. She even did some hand ones that her therapist briefly went over but had yet to implement. The doctor wanted to wait while she was fitted with prosthetics before getting started on that. That was supposed to happen yesterday but the fitting was postponed, and so Farah waited for the person who was in charge of getting her arms back into working order to show up.

It didn’t take long. Angela walked into the room, a nurse at her heels pushing a cart, and settled near Fareeha. Her hand was warm as it rested on Farah’s knee, and her eyes were kind. Fareeha didn’t mirror Angela’s smile, instead nausea gripped her stomach and she wanted nothing more than fix everything and disappear at the same time.

“Hello, Farah,” Angela greeted. “I’ll be the one fitting you for your prosthetics. Is that okay?”

Fareeha nodded, unable to meet her gaze. This didn’t feel like her hearing session this morning. Angela wasn’t some doctor in some hospital, she was Farah’s best friend and the woman who saved her life, the person Fareeha loved more than any other, and she was a constant in her life that, despite the difficulties, always brought comfort. It was that comfort now that made Fareeha so sick. Her thoughts were loud with half formed apologies and unfair accusations, fighting each other in a cruel cycle. Her heart hammered and she was glad she wasn’t hooked up to anything that would give her away. The silence was heavy, at least for Farah. Angela strapped on the prosthetics like a glove, the synapses Angela left beneath the sewn-up skin connecting to their intended links.

“How does that feel?” Angela asked. Her hand still held Fareeha’s, the icy fingertips familiar to Farah’s now scarred skin. It felt good.

Farah mentally shook her head, and focused on the feeling of the prosthetics. Her hand felt hot where the stubs met the new digits. The sleek titanium and aluminum looked foreign to her, but so did her hand. She stared at her hand, nestled in Angela’s. Somewhere along the line, Farah’s hand grew broader and longer than Angela’s. Her remaining finger was slender and long, and the prosthetics matched it for the most part. They were a bit wider, clunkier. Fareeha felt the same way.

“Farah?” Angela’s voice broke through her thoughtful haze. She looked up at the doctor as Angela told her something.

“I can’t hear you,” Farah said. She finally looked up at Angela, meeting her eyes just as the first traces of tears appeared in the bright blue eyes.

“Can you move your fingers?” Angela asked louder, failing to hide the wobbling in her chin despite the smile she fought to keep on her face.

Fareeha looked back at her hand and moved them. It was easy. The metal responded as if it was her own body, joints bending as one.

“Does it feel okay?” Angela asked, remembering to speak up.

Farah didn’t feel okay and her hands felt anything but. The only parts that didn’t hurt, the only ones feeling like her old limbs were the metal fingers, and those were definitely not okay.

“It’s fine,” she answered.

Angela nodded, and spoke to the nurse, dismissing her probably. It was too low for Fareeha to catch. The two of them watched the woman leave, and the moment the door shut Angela moved over to Farah, and wrapped her arms around the soldier. Fareeha leaned against her, hiding her face in Angela’s neck, but her hands stayed at her sides.

“I was so close,” Farah mumbled into Angela’s skin.

“To what?”

“Overwatch. Why did she ruin it? Why does she care so much that I not follow her footsteps?”

“Farah, Ana didn’t do anything. Amélie is Gerard’s fiancée. He wasn’t here to recruit you, he was here to check on her team and make sure she’s okay.”

Blood rushed into her ears and Farah wasn’t certain that she was hearing her friend correctly. It couldn’t be. Of course it was her mother meddling in her life. “No, I’m talking about that man, the one that came,” she said, looking up at Angela and shaking her head.

Angela took her face into her hands, framing her features with those gentle hands. Farah’s vision closed in on the piercing eyes and the remaining tinge of yellow around Angela’s nose where the bruising was taking its time to heal. “Farah, your mother would never do that to you. She loves you and she wants you to be safe, but she wouldn’t do this behind your back.”

“No, no, you don’t understand, Angela. She has a very clear idea about my future,” Farah said, chuckling, “she’ll make sure I never get in, even if it kills her.”

“Why would you say that? She loves you, Farah.”

“No. She loves _you_. Me…she wants me to behave, to listen to and do what she tells me. It’s you she’s proud of. You’re the doctor, the one saving people. I’m a killer just like her.”

“I’m her trophy, you’re her child,” Angela said. The kindness in her eyes made Fareeha’s chest ache, and the tears falling silently made Farah’s own try and make an appearance.

Farah took Angela into her arms, the two holding each other in silence, only the frantic beats of their hearts mingling out-of-sync. Fareeha rested her head on Angela’s stomach, silently wishing they could go back to the time when none of this mattered, when Farah was satisfied with her toy guns and Angela didn’t have to worry about anything more than getting her homework done on time. If only things stayed the same. If only they had more time.

* * *

Angela tossed the foam cup with the last remaining dregs of her coffee as she rushed out of the staff rec room she’d been using as an office space while she watched over Fareeha, and navigated the hallways to get to Farah’s room. She was out of time, with headquarters breathing down her back to return to her station. She shook off the though as she reached the now familiar room, making it just in time to see the soldier off.

Fareeha stood at the edge of her bed, looking dapper and sharp with her uniform on. She was in the middle of folding the comfortable-looking sweats that Angela secretly appreciated so much, and the sight of the leg braces that lined the outer sides of her legs only made Angela slightly guilty for ogling her friend. Farah turned to face her as soon as Angela made it through the threshold of the door, the light reflecting off the temporarily clunky hearing aids, and a smile grew on her face, a first that Angela had seen in days.

“How’re the braces feeling?”

“Not worse than the fingers,” Farah joked, wiggling the metal digits.

“That’s good. How about everything else?”

“Better. I’ll call my mother as soon as I get to base. We’ll talk. I’ll apologize.”

Angela pulled Fareeha in, hugging her warmly. Farah was just so, so good, and Angela loved her so much. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“It’s no problem.” Farah’s arms wrapped around her, pulling her in even closer. “I’m gonna miss you. It was nice having you close, even if I was an asshole most of the time.”

“Next time we meet, it better be under nicer circumstances,” Angela said, squinting up at Fareeha.

“Okay Doctor,” Farah said, kissing her forehead.

The door opened as a nurse walked in, carrying the discharge papers and a wheelchair. “Well, they’ve already seen me half dead. Leaving in the wheelchair isn’t much worse I guess,” Farah said as the two of them eyed it.

“Come on, Lieutenant. Time for you to get out of here,” Angela said.

“Yeah. I can’t wait to get back to base and do more therapy. I bet they’ll throw some paperwork in as well.”

* * *

Angela set down her towel on the back of the computer chair, and collapsed into her unmade bed. The base was silent in the dormitories, the thrum of the rest of it faint in the background. A breeze blew through her window and carried in the smell of oil and machinery that lingered around the area, mingling with the smell of the lab clinging to her hair and skin. It was a long day for her. She had to check on Jessie’s arm, it’s been acting up since they left Egypt. Then there was the meeting with Gerard and the rest of the board, and a new researcher was due to come any day now. Morrison and Reyes were getting worse, barely spending any time together due to the danger of killing each other. If she had time left, she’d have to return to her research on the Nano technology and try to figure out a new way for the caduceus to operate. The new staff was too bulky to work properly despite being tougher to break now.

She rubbed her eyes and took out her phone. She’s been keeping in touch with Fareeha, checking on her every morning. Fareeha couldn’t always reply, at first because of her injuries, and later because of her lack of time.

 _Hey_ , Angela texted her.

She was nearly asleep when her phone went off.

_Pharah: Why are you still up Dr.?_

Angela smiled at the message, and moved the duvet over herself to get more comfortable.

_Long work day. I will get that damn staff to work._

_Pharah: I don’t doubt you will._

_How are you? How’s the therapy going?_

_Pharah: They’re still reluctant to send me back out into the field. It’s dumb. My hands stopped shaking weeks ago, and the leg brace came off last wednesday._

_Farah, you can’t rush these things._

Angela waited for the reply, fearing that one wasn’t going to come.

_Pharah: How’s mom?_

Angela sighed at the change of topic, but let it go.

_Out on some mission with Amelie, she’s been training her._

_Pharah: oh, okay. And Gabriel?_

Angela looked at the message for a long time.

_He’s fine, why do you ask?_

_Pharah: no reason, he was kinda mad at me for getting hurt. I didn’t have a chance to talk to him much._

_He’s been busy with Blackwatch._

_Pharah: okay. Get some sleep Dr. Mercy. Love you._

Angela smiled, and sent back a ‘good night’ before allowing herself to finally get some sleep.

* * *

Angela didn’t know what to make of Dr. Moira O’Deorian. She came in earlier this morning, while Angela was still sleeping, and already the lab looked different. New equipment crowded Angela’s desk, and she was slightly irked to see the screen of her desktop having a new wallpaper, the old photo of her and the Amari’s replaced by a generic one.

She barely had time to get settled in when the door swooshed open and in came the person she assumed was Dr. O’Deorain. She walked towards Angela, limbs fluid and loose at her sides. Her eyes bore into Angela’s, captivating her.

“Dr.,” Moira greeted, “pleasure.”

“I didn't realize you were here already, Dr. O’Deorian. I gotta say, I wasn’t aware that you were the person they hired,” Angela said, keeping her distaste from showing. She would have to have a word with Blackwatch and the board about their choice of employees.

“Oh, no one is, and everyone on the board would prefer it that way.” Moira put on her lab coat and visor, dulling the blue of her left eye, and making the amber one stand out, almost red under the sterile lights of the lab.

“I wasn’t aware that this is a secret,” Angela said, her voice tighter than she hoped it would be.

“It seems like you aren’t aware of many things, Dr. Don’t worry, we’ll get your projects moving along in no time.”

No more words were exchanged while the two set up their workstations. Angela kept an eye out on her colleague throughout the day, her own work moving slowly. Moira seemed at home in the lab, moving about with comfort, relaxed and focused at the same time. Her pale skin rivaled Angela’s, and Angela hoped that she didn’t look as ghoulish under the fluorescent lights as the newcomer did.

Her job just got much harder.

* * *

“What do you mean we need her?” Angela yelled, “Gabriel she’s an immoral, unethical failure. Her work can’t be replicated, and the results she got are suspiciously perfect.”

“Dr. Zeigler, settle down. This isn’t up for debate.” Gabriel returned to his work, eyes reading over his screen.

“Gabriel,” Angela warned.

Hard eyes flickered to her own. He wasn’t going to listen to her. She exhaled a disbelieving chuckle. “Fine, I’ll take it up with Jack.”

“If you do that, you’re fired. You signed disclosure when we told you a new member would be joining your department.”

“That was before I knew it was her,” Angela screamed, her voice piercing the room, and probably the hallways outside it.

“Go back to your work Dr. and don’t speak of this again.”

Angela had the urge to swipe the folders lining Reyes’ desk onto the floor, maybe kick a chair. Instead she straightened her lab coat, gave the man one more look, and walked out with as much dignity as she could muster. She knew he didn’t bother following her retreating figure with his eyes.

* * *

Lena looked around the hangar, her flight jacket displaying the short row of ribbons she managed to get in her very short stint with the Royal Air Force. The people rushing around spared her no time, but she didn’t feel bothered, having eyes only on the sleek fighter before her. Only the image of the massive Gorilla walking towards her could distract her from the ship she was to pilot soon.

“Miss Oxton,” Winston called out.

“Hello. It’s beautiful,” she said, awe coloring her tone.

“It is, isn’t it. We’ve been working on it for years. It’s finally operational.”

“When do I get to try her out?”

“The flight is scheduled in three days. You won’t jump the first couple times, that one is scheduled for two weeks from now if everything works well enough.”

A grin lit up her face, and she turned her attention to the elegant plane once again.

* * *

Amelie walked off the carrier, her rifle carefully stowed in its case, and her small duffle bag weighing her shoulder down. The place was busier than usual and she couldn’t wait to get home to Gerard’s quarters. The exhaustion from the mission was almost as bad as the exhaustion of her job altogether. She was almost halfway to the exit of the hangar when a very tiny person appeared in her way.

“Oof,” the girl exclaimed as they collided. Amelie tripped forward and struggled to grab on to something without her bags getting in her way, failing miserably, but the ground never got acquainted with her face. The surprisingly strong girl caught her mid fall and righted her just as quick.

“Sorry, luv, didn’t mean to run ya down. I’m Lena Oxton,” she said, extending her hand to Amelie.

“Amelie,” she introduced herself, shaking Lena’s hand.

“I’m the new pilot, here to test Slipstream,” she said proudly.

“…how old are you?” Amelie asked. She looked like a child. She was a child.

“Almost seventeen ma’am,” Lena replied with a cheeky salute.

“Well good luck with the piloting, I’ll see you around Lena. I need to go speak to our director.” Amelie didn’t wait for Lena to reply, and walked past her and straight to Gerard’s office. She wasn’t aware that they were in the business of child soldiers.

* * *

Moira watched the good doctor work on the mangled mess of a man in the OR. Angela’s fingers were slick with blood and other fluids, but much to Moira’s annoyance, she was still not allowed inside and help. It’s been months since she started here and while Zeigler’s work had progressed, Moira’s own stagnated. It wasn’t every day she would get a chance to work on a hybrid, it would add so much substance to her research. Her fists clenched as she watched her chance slip by, forearm aching and muscles throbbing from where she’s been injecting herself. No, this was exactly what she needed. Working with omnics wasn’t something she had much experience with, and this would be a perfect chance to see how the technology is integrated with a human. It could help her make her serums more effective. Without another thought she walked out of the observatory and scrubbed herself in.

“What are you doing Moira?” Angela asked her as she entered the room. Her voice was detached in that way that Moira grew used to. So, she was in work mode, that was good, there was less chances of good ole’ angel to go cry to daddy.

“Assisting.”

“You’re not allowed in here. Can someone escort her out?” Angela said to the confused nurses around her.

“I am allowed. Just go ask Jack.”

“Jack isn’t in charge of this department. I am. Get out before I call security.” She never took her eyes off the man on the table.

Moira huffed and stormed out, getting back to her lab. So far working with Overwatch proved to be a waste of her potential. Everything was monitored and restricted and documented. The board was breathing down her neck to help that pathetic child that calls herself a doctor with her stupid stick. Well, all was fine, Moira already got her hands on Zeigler’s research, and her own work was progressing nicely. Maybe she didn’t need the man on the operating table. Maybe, all she needed was a volunteer.

* * *

Moira strolled into one of the practice rooms, seeking Gabriel out. He stood by some displays watching the recruits run drills in the room below.

“Reyes.”

“Doctor.”

“How do you feel about helping me out?”

“With what?”

“Oh nothing much, just a few tests. I can make you better,” she sang, boring her eyes into his as her smile spread.

“Oh can you? I’m not a lab rat,” he said and went back to watching the screens.

“I have plenty of _rats_. What I need is a person, and look, you’re one of those.”

“No.”

“No? But think about is, Morrison is out there, doing his job poorly, messing up relations with any country he sets his foot in. Gerard is useless ever since he got married. You on the other hand get things done. Imagine how much better you’d be after I’m through with you. They’ll beg for you to take Jacky’s spot.”

“I don’t need his spot.”

“No? Then it’s fine I guess. Just thought I’d try to help, before they shut your division down. Oh well.”

“What?” Gabriel growled.

“Did you not know? Blackwatch is just eating so many resources. Now that we’re extending into other departments the budget is too tight. Too many lawsuits or something,” she said, waving her hand.

“And how would you know that?”

“I know a lot of things that concern my employment. I just got here and my work will not suffer for anyone. They can’t get their shit together, so I need you to do it instead. I make you better, you rise in rank. You get high enough on the ladder, and all I want is a little peace and a funded lab. What do you say Mr. Reyes?”

“Why should I trust you?” he asked.

“Because my loyalty is to the successes of my work. The last thing I would ever want, is for my project to fail. Think about it Gabe. Let me know when you’ve decided.”

She slipped out as Gabriel turned back to the screens.

* * *

Lena buckled in and checked her helmet straps. The controls began to light up as she prepared for the test to commence. An operator relayed information to her while she looked out the Slipstream’s windshield and at the crowd standing on the bridge and watching her. This was it, the day they test the teleport. She could almost spot Amelie in the crowd, and her cheeks warmed at the thought of impressing the woman with her piloting skills. She flexed her fingers and began to flip the switches and turn the knobs as the countdown began.

“Good luck, Tracer,” she heard Winston say over the comms.

“Here comes the cavalry,” Tracer said, and the fighter shot forward.

* * *

Amelie watched as the plane disappeared and didn’t appear again, and she watched as people began to rush around, and she watched Gerard as he began to pace and shout at those around him. The ring on her hand felt heavy, and the responsibility even more so. She should have pushed harder. Lena was so very young.

He looked angry, but she felt empty. She didn’t realize that she left the observation deck until she stood in the medical wing. Angela was in her office, speaking to Gabriel’s new recruit, the one Angela saved. His dark clothes and the metal protruding from his skin made shivers run up her spine. Everywhere she turned she was destruction and death and failures. The man in Angela’s office was nothing more than a sack of muscle a few months ago. Now he was angry and deadly and effective. She’s seen him work with McCree once, on a mission they had together. They left devastation in their tracks.

Angela saw her waiting through the window of her office, and after a few moments Genji stood and walked out, passing Amelie by without so much as an acknowledgement.

“Amelie, what’s wrong,” Angela asked, pulling her into the office. Her warm hands burned Amelie’s skin under their touch, and she slid into a chair as her knees gave in. Everything was spinning, and her vision blurred as tears poured down her face.

“What have we done? Angela, what have we done?”

“Amelie? What is it?”

“I can’t be a part of this anymore. Overwatch is rotten to its core. I can’t do this. We killed her.”

“Who?” Angela’s voice was nearly as panicky as her own, but nothing mattered right now.

“We killed Lena. She was one of us. We made her one of us. We’re not saviors of the world, we’re what’s killing it.”

* * *

Gabriel watched the press conference play out on the news. Watched Gerard launch himself at one of Overwatch’s opponents. Pictures of the Oxton girl filled the screens of every channel. Winston sat next to him on the floor by the couch. He hadn’t moved in hours. His eyes never strayed from the television, but they weren’t focused. Gabriel watched him for a long time too. He didn’t know that they were hiring children now. Or killing them. He thought about Fareeha. She was out there right now, fighting someone somewhere, weapons pointed at her. His head pounded.

Jack walked into the lounge, and plopped into the empty seat by Gabriel.

“We fucked up, Gabe.”

“Yeah.”

“We’re gonna get fucked.”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.”

* * *

Gabriel walked down the hallway, and stopped before the laboratory. His blood pumped and heart raced. He knocked anyway. Moira opened the door, and upon seeing who it was smiled.

“It will work?”

“It should.”

“What exactly would it do.”

Moira moved out of the doorway and swept a hand into the lab, inviting him in. “Make you unstoppable.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Moira couldn't have come at a better time. Fareeha's dad came out like a week after I made Gabriel her dad in this fic and now it's too late to change (because I'm lazy), but Moira actually makes my life 10000% easier since now I don't have to make up a character to get shit going. Blizzard handed me one on an unethical platter. Thanks Blizzard. You got me.  
> Also! What did y'all think of the chapter?


	9. Author Note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Update on this story.

I began writing this about a couple weeks before the news that Fareeha's father was a member of First Nation was revealed. Even then I felt weird about writing something that erases Fareeha's origins and the part that her heritage plays on her character, but as I kept going my motivation kept slipping farther and farther away. I don't think I'll continue this story, and for anyone who enjoyed it I want to say thank you. Maybe I'll revisit this one some day, or perhaps even write a new fic, one that hopefully encompasses more about the characters and their culture, but for now this fic is abandoned. Thanks for tagging along, and if you have questions or comments leave them here or come ask on my tumblr, same username as this one.

-korrasamishipper 


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